Ghana’s National Audits to Be Copied by Guinea and Others

Subah Infosolutions, suppliers of telecoms revenue, tax and anti-simbox audits to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), has stated it has entered into a similar arrangement with the government of Guinea, according to an article in citifmonline.

The arrangement would see Subah implement in Guinea the same national telecoms auditing model that it originally developed for its home market in Ghana. Subah also hopes to roll out the model to other African governments eager to collect more tax from telcos. Daily Guide Africa reported on a meeting between Subah MD Birendra Sasmal and the Ghanian Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, where Sasmal stated he had received interest from Kenya, The Gambia, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Congo DR, and Lesotho.

Subah’s auditing program has been the subject of controversy, prompting feuds between telcos, Ghana’s tax collection agency, and opposing political factions. Whilst Subah claimed their audits had significantly reduced simbox fraud, representatives of Ghanian telcos argued much of the relevant work was done by the telcos themselves. Some opponents also questioned the generosity of the fees paid to Subah. Things came to a head last year, when Ghana’s communications regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA), openly fought with the GRA over who has the legal authority to audit telco revenues. Subah’s audits have been overshadowed by a new national interconnect clearing house and auditing scheme, as agreed between the NCA and their preferred supplier, Afriwave. However, the GRA continues to work with Subah.

No information about the Guinea deal can be found on Subah’s website. Peculiarly, their page for press releases and news currently lists several hundred announcements that all read: “Shipping Clerk, 1st December 2015.” A possible explanation for this bizarre breakdown in corporate communications is suggested by the unusual copyright notice at the bottom of the website: “Copyright © 2014 hacker_soupkandjiaLtd. All Rights Reserved.”

Eric Priezkalns
Eric Priezkalnshttp://revenueprotect.com

Eric is the Editor of Commsrisk. Look here for more about the history of Commsrisk and the role played by Eric.

Eric is also the Chief Executive of the Risk & Assurance Group (RAG), an association of professionals working in risk management and business assurance for communications providers. RAG was founded in 2003 and Eric was appointed CEO in 2016.

Previously Eric was Director of Risk Management for Qatar Telecom and he has worked with Cable & Wireless, T‑Mobile, Sky, Worldcom and other telcos. He was lead author of Revenue Assurance: Expert Opinions for Communications Providers, published by CRC Press.

Related Articles

Get Our Weekly Newsletter by Email