Launching of a Cutting-Edge Platform Powered by Global Voice Group to Boost Telecom Regulatory and Tax Compliance in Ghana

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, October 30, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Praised by President Akufo-Addo as an "essential building block" for the realization of a digitized Ghana

Global Voice Group (GVG) is proud to announce that a Common Platform (CP), using its state-of-the-art technologies, has been officially launched by the Honorable Nana Akufo-Addo, President of Ghana, last Monday in Accra. Delivered by Ghana-based firm Kelni-GVG, with the technical assistance of GVG, the mCP will be jointly used by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the National Communications Authority (NCA) to support and optimize their respective activities with respect to telecom and mobile money oversight and taxation.

In his inaugural speech to the launching, President Akufo-Addo presented the CP as an "essential building block for the realization of the government's vision of a digitized Ghana." For GVG's CEO, Mr. James Claude, this perfectly defines the very nature of the project: "The Common Platform, he says, is indeed all about digitization. It aims at replacing the old paper-based ways of doing things by cutting-edge technologies of the digital age that can really increase efficiency and enforce transparency in important sectors of the economy such as telecoms and digital financial services."

The telecom and mobile money markets of Ghana have a lot in common with those of other countries where GVG successfully implemented similar platforms over the last few years, like Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. They are characterized by an overall lack of transparency, high vulnerabilities to important risks such as revenue leakages, tax erosion, unfair competition from Internet-based OTTs and proliferation of international grey telephony. The CP is expected to have an immediate and lasting positive impact in all these regards.

Basically, the CP consists of a telecom and mobile money information backbone that works in real-time for the state agencies and the government of Ghana. It directly connects the authorities to the source of information, collecting real-time traffic and transaction data that cannot be tampered with. Moreover, the innovative technologies developed by GVG provide the authorities with this real-time visibility in a non-intrusive way, without any impact whatsoever on the telcos' activities and in full compliance with privacy laws.

In addition to traffic measurement applications used to calculate and bill taxes, levies and regulatory fees due to the government, the CP will bring many other important benefits to all stakeholders in Ghana. Its fraud management component will enable the NCA to efficiently coordinate the fight against grey telephony that deprives both the government and the telcos of millions of dollars in international calls revenues, while compromising network security and quality of service for consumers. Overall, the CP will allow for a much more proactive and preventive approach of telecom oversight, based on real-time data, ensuring a better protection of consumers' interests and significantly reducing the cost of non-compliance for telcos, as opposed to a punitive approach based on partial information.

As Mr. Claude points out: "The CP is a win-win approach for both the citizens, the industry and the government. As a technology provider, we are proud to assist our Ghana-based partner Kelni-GVG and the Ghanaian authorities in taking this decisive step towards a much more transparent, secure, prosperous and compliant telecom and mobile money ecosystem in Ghana."

About GVG 

Founded in 1998 and present in more than 20 countries, with its main offices in Spain and South Africa, Global Voice Group (GVG) has rapidly grown to become a prominent provider of world-class IT solutions to governments and regulatory authorities.