Voice and Data bundles are packages that are slowly crazing as compulsory norms for almost all SIMCard owners in Africa. While a majority of the telecom companies have strict timeframes for these bundles, In Ghana the limits are no more after a new order has been imposed on all service providers in the country.
MTN, Airtel, Glo, and Vodafone are the dominant service providers in Ghana and the news making rounds on Social Media, sound with bits of the country’s Communications Minister’s new order to end the data and voice bundles expiry streak.
Hon. URSULA OWUSU-EKUFUL__The Minister of Communications stretched her order as an insight to end the telecoms’-to-subscriber direct tax and not just a reflection of the percentage paid to the tax authority.
Network operators have not been passing on the communication service tax (CST) to subscribers, but instead take advantage of the 3% increase to pass on the entire tax to subscribers. This has effectively increased their profit margins at the expense of subscribers
Part of the official letter to network operators read
As a popular norm in many countries, the tax authorities like URA in Uganda only charge Network operators and not direct subscribers. But according to the letter by Hon Ursula, telcos had resorted to shifting their tax burdens to subscribers, something that has provoked new twists.
To minize the negative impact of the current mode of deduction of the CST, the Ministry of communications hereby directs the immediate implementetation of the follow measures
The letter further read
Though Subscribers across Africa have addressed the new policy by Ghana as a learning point to their service providers like those in Uganda.
The fate of such a policy lies in the hands of tax authorities that have the might to determine subscriber rates and bundle timeframes. Nonetheless, here is a sniff of the full letter issued to telcos in Ghana.
Telcos directed to stop cha… by myjoyonline.com on Scribd