KelniGVG is said to have saved Ghana from tax leakage from the telecommunications sector, the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said.
She revealed this when speaking to the media in Accra,. According to her, the implementation of the KelniGVG’s revenue assurance and traffic monitoring centre for Mobile Network Operators should save the country GH¢1.5 billion in potential tax under-declaration. She further stated that prior to the introduction of the KelniGVG’s platform, more than GHS 300 million in taxes was lost from potential under-declarations between 2015 to the first quarter of 2017.
Declared TAX has Gone Up
The level of Valued Added Tax and National Health Insurance Levy declared by the mobile network operators have gone up since the common platform was introduced in March 2017. “The question that one should ask is: what has happened between prior to March 2017 to post-March 2017 for us to witness those wide revelations in the declarations made on VAT and CST [Communications Service Tax] to the GRA.
Additional Savings
In addition to the savings from potential tax leakage through under-declared tax, KelniGVG contract has resulted in contract savings worth US$1.1 million per month, according to the Minister.
“Additionally, unlike the previous contracts, the CP offers real-time monitoring of 2.5 billion transactions per day within the telecom sector (e.g. Calls, SMS, Mobile money transactions, etc.) as well as Mobile Money Monitoring as an added component,” the Communications Minister added.
It may be recalled that in the midst of fierce criticism KelniGVG in 2017 was awarded the contract by the government for the design, development, and implementation of a common platform for traffic monitoring, revenue assurance, and mobile money monitoring and fraud management in the telecom sector.
