[ 2021-02-16 ]

NCA not ready to takeover telco revenue monitoring platform from KelniGVG
There are no timelines yet on when the National
Communications Authority (NCA) will take over the
management of the common platform for traffic and
mobile money monitoring currently overseen by
KelniGVG.

Speaking during her vetting, the Communications
and Digitisation Minister-nominee, Ursula
Owusu-Ekuful, said knowledge and technology
transfer is currently taking place for the deal
which began in 2018.

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is also expected
to have a hand in the management of the common
platform.

“The NCA and GRA are ultimately expected to
manage the platform for their own regulatory
purposes and to assist them to also perform their
obligations under the [Communication Service Tax]
Act,” Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful assured.

But as to when the NCA will take over, she said it
would depend on the readiness of the authority.

“The NCA will have to inform me that they are
sufficiently capable of undertaking this task and
when they do, the process is seamless and is
handed over to them.”

“I cannot indicate which period they will be
comfortable to take over,” the nominee said.

The KelniGVG deal, valued at $89 million, was
heavily criticised when it was announced because
of its similarity with controversial agreements
the state entered into with Subah Infosolutions
and Afriwave Telcom Ltd in 2010 and 2016
respectively.

The deal faced multiple lawsuits amid allegations
of corruption and underhand dealings in the award
of the revenue assurance monitoring contract to
KelniGVG.

A lot of the criticism of the deal came from think
tank IMANI Africa which also raised privacy
concerns while questioning the credibility of
KelniGVG.

When confronted with these concerns during her
vetting, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful again defended the
integrity of the deal and said: “procurement
laws were followed to the letter.”

On the question of value for money, she said the
deal had “resulted in cost savings of $1.1
million monthly as against the previous
situation… That alone provides less cost and
more value”.

The nominee added that it offers improved
real-time monitoring of 2.5 billion transactions
per day within the telecoms sector comprising
calls, SMS activity and mobile money transactions.

Source - Citinewsroom

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