The government must focus on output tax instead of the current industry specific taxes imposed on the telecommunications industry, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Chamber of Telecommunications, Kenneth Ashigbey, has said.
That, he said, would help promote the growth of the telecommunications industry in the country.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghanaian Times on the side-lines of a press conference to announce the outcome of a Telecommunication Tax Contribution (TTC) survey, Mr Ashigbey said telecommunication sector was saddled with a lot of taxes, which in total constitute 40 per cent of the cost of operations of the telecommunication companies.

He said the industry must not be seen as a cash cow, but a ‘driving horse’ to propel and drive the other sectors of the economy.
According to him, it was important for the government to reduce the numerous taxes imposed on the industry to allow companies in the sector to invest more in expanding infrastructure to make more spectrums available and improve on their services.
He explained that if the industry was supported to grow through tax reliefs and incentives, the government could generate more taxes from the services the industry generated.

Touching on the total tax contribution of the TTC to the government tax revenue in 2018, Mr Ashigbey said the industry last year contributed GH¢2.2 billion.
“Value Added Tax stood as one of the top tax lines of the industry, representing approximately 19 per cent of the TTC in money terms of over GH¢412 million and Communication Service Tax also generated GH¢420 million to government,” he said.
Corporate Income Tax, the CEO said contributed GH¢342 million and Pay As You Earn contributed GH¢64 million, withholding tax, GH¢293 million, import duty GH¢180 million and Surcharge on International Incoming Traffic contributed GH¢115 million.

Mr Ashigbey said the industry last year contributed two per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product and industry players in 2018 invested more than GH¢628 million in capital expenditure and GH¢345 million in other remittances.
The CEO said aside the tax contribution to the State; the telecommunication industry gave 6500 direct jobs and 1.6 million indirect jobs.
Quizzed about the claim of government that the telecommunications companies were under declaring profit, the CEO said the telecommunications companies said no study had confirm that and the Chamber of Telecommunications had written to the Ghana Revenue Authority to provide it with information to that effect if there is any.

He said some of the telecommunication companies were listed both locally and internationally and shareholders were concerned about the bottom lines of the companies.
Mr Ashigbey said the telecommunication companies took their tax obligations seriously.
On the Communication Service Tax, he said members had completed the process to stop the upfront deductions of the CST.

Mr Ashigbey touching about the move to tax Mobile Money said the move would be akin to the VAT on the banking services government abolished in 2017.
Citing Uganda as an example, he said taxing Mobile Money would reduce the uptake of the service.
On the intention of government to roll out a test run for 5G service next year, Mr Ashigbey called for comprehensive policy to bring all sectors of the economy on board the exercise.

Source:Ghanaian Times

The African Development Bank and technology firm Microsoft have launched the ‘Coding for Employment’ digital training platform, an online tool to provide digital skills to African youth, wherever they are across the continent.

The platform, launched at the 2019 African Economic Conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, aims to promote a continuous learning culture among young people and build their capacity to shape the continent’s future.

The high-level event drew heads of state and government, ministers and leaders from the private sector and academia to discuss how this new tool and other technological innovations could be used to spur development across the continent.

“The youth employment and skills development challenge is a complex issue that requires systemic thinking and bold partnerships … to address the existing skills gap and link youth to decent and sustainable employment,” said Hendrina Doroba, the African Development Bank’s acting director for Human Capital, Youth & Skills Development.

“The skills training platform launched today is a testament to the impact that such partnerships can achieve and the Bank looks forward to strengthening similar partnerships.”

The platform teaches technical courses such as web development, design, data science and digital marketing and will be constantly adapted to respond to market demand. It is accessible on mobile devices, even in low internet connectivity settings and has an affordable, easy-to-navigate, secured and private interface.

“A defining challenge of our time is ensuring that everyone has equal opportunity to benefit from technology,” Ghada Khalifa, Director of Microsoft Philanthropies for the Middle East and Africa, said at the launch.

“Forward-thinking initiatives such as the digital training platform represent our commitment to helping drive the momentum needed. Though there is still much work to be done, we believe that through dynamic partnerships such as these, we can help build a knowledge-based economy in Africa that leaves no person behind.”

The Coding for Employment Program is a crucial part of the African Development Bank’s strategic agenda to create 25 million jobs by 2025, and to equip 50 million African youth with competitive skills. The Bank piloted the program in five countries (Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire) in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation and Microsoft and is currently developing 14 ultra-modern centers specialized in ICT and entrepreneurship skills trainings for youth.

The goal is to scale up the program to 130 centers of excellence across the continent over a 10-year period. It will create nine million jobs by building synergies with the public and the private sector globally to deliver demand-driven, agile and collaborative skills to empower young people to become innovative players in the digital economy.

The Coding for Employment training platform can be accessed here across 54 African countries

Source: www.biztechafrica.com

Vodafone Ghana in partnership with StarLife Assurance Company has launched a travel companion for its Vodafone Cash subscribers following the launch of its recent Vodafone Cash Agent Insurance product.

The unique product, Vodafone travel companion, has been designed to insure customers against death, permanent disability and hospital admissions, which result from a car, train or ferry accident.

Speaking at the launch, Martison Obeng-Agyei, Head of Vodafone Cash said, “According to the National Road Safety Commission, over 1, 250 Ghanaians lost their lives between January and July, just this year; and over 7,000 Ghanaians were injured during this period. Accidents are inevitable and it is always important to plan for the unexpected. At Vodafone, innovation runs through the very fabric of our organisation. In a fast moving industry like ours, you do not rest on your laurels hence the need to launch this pioneering initiative, our insurance product for our customers.”

“This product will definitely redefine insurance product development in the industry and the country at large. Customers have options to choose daily, weekly or monthly premium payment plans.

Travel Companion has seven unique insurance products. For as little as Ghc 5.50 monthly a customer is entitled to a cover worth Ghc 1500; Ghc 500 should they be admitted at the hospital, Ghc 500 should they suffer any disability, and 500 cedis should they pass away, touchwood. Customer who desire a heavy cover, can go for the Ghc 39.05 monthly which entitles a customer to a Ghc15, 000 cover; Ghc 5000 should they be admitted at a health facility, Ghc 5000 should they suffer any disability, and 5000 cedis, should they pass away, touchwood”
he explained the product.

For his Head, Group and Distribution for StarLife, Mr Alex Twumasi, said “After a good research on the market, we scanned the market and realised that clients especially those in the informal sector really needed a travel insurance. This has never happened because most of the covers out there go basically for a niche market but we are coming for the mass market; the ordinary mate or seller can easily patronise this policy using the Vodafone Cash platform.”

Mr. Obeng-Agyei urged Ghanaians to buy the travel insurance policy in this festive season.

“There are millions of people who are going to travel and we hope not but definitely there might be one or two accidents and you can call on StarLife and your claims will be paid to you”.

Vodafone Cash has become integral in the promotion of a cash - lite society in Ghana with its varied initiatives and products that continue to excite Ghanaians since its inception in Ghana three years ago. It is currently the only mobile money operator that allows customers to send money from their wallets to other Vodafone Cash wallets without charges.

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Afrobarometer Report on public confidence in the safety of Ghana's financial institutions, following the clean up in the sector, indicates over 70% of Ghanaians trust mobile money more than other financial institutions.

The report put together by CDD-Ghana noted that in spite of the cleanup, 83% of Ghanaians still trust in banks, but the reputation of savings and loans, microfinance and traditional susu companies has declined considerably.

Only 8% of the 2,400 Ghanaians surveyed said they will save with savings and loans; another 8% trust in traditional susu, while 7% says they still trust microfinance companies.

Meanwhile, some 11% say they would rather keep their money at home instead of saving with any financial institution.

But even though mobile money is about the latest addition to the options in the financial sector, a whopping 72% of respondents say they either trust it fully or trust it somewhat.

MoMo Stats

Public confidence in Mobile Money is indeed aptly reflected in the subscription, and transaction volume and value figures released by the Telecoms Chamber recently.

The figures indicate that currently, there are 13 million active mobile money wallets, doing 4 million transactions daily, and the balance of cash floating on the mobile money platform is a whopping GHC2.6 billion at any point in time.

The Chamber also noted that last year alone, telecom operators paid GHC2.2 billion in taxes, and that included taxes on the revenue they make from mobile money services.

Afrobarometer Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at CDD-Ghana, Samuel Adusei Baaye told Adom News Mobile Money is clearly a key driver of financial inclusion and needs to be protected from fraudsters and from over taxation.

He said plans by the Communications Ministry to tax mobile money fees of the telcos is a threat to the growth of the service and its role in boosting financial inclusion.

Samuel Adusei Baaye argued that whatever tax government places on the mobile money earnings of telcos will be transferred to customers and that can discourage usage of the service and thus affect financial inclusion negatively.

MoMo earnings

The Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu Ekuful has said her target is not to burden customers with taxes on mobile money services, but to tax the estimated GHC71 million services charges that telcos earn from mobile money every month.

But she, herself, admitted that her colleague Finance Minister, Ken Ofori- Atta disagrees with her call for the state to tax the earnings of telcos from Mobile Money outside of what they already pay as part of their taxes on all their revenue streams.

The CDD-Ghana official says he agrees with the position of the Finance Minister, because "we are already grappling with the 9% Communications Service Tax (CST) so adding on another tax will not be good for mobilising funds into the financial sector for national development."

He believes the more affordable Mobile Money services are, the higher the potential for it to mobilize more money into the financial sector, which can then be accessed by companies to expand and create more jobs and impact lives directly.

"It is understandable that government needs to find innovative ways to generate revenue for development, but taxing mobile money earnings of telcos in addition to what they already pay would only affect customers in the long run and make the country lose the financial inclusion battle," Samuel Adusei Baaye said.

Source: Myjoyonline.com