SIAKON MEDIA

 

 

He said the government in 2009, entered into a deal with the Global Voice Group (GVG) for the installation of an intelligence signaling system on the international gateways of companies engaged in mobile telephony in the country.

 

Mr. Haruna disclosed that a total a total number of 64,855 fraudulent SIM cards numbers were  terminated between June 2010 and January this year with 3,469 fraudulent sim card numbers terminated on AIRTEL  network between the first twenty days of the 2011.

 

According to him, due to the alarming rate of fraudulent numbers recorded, the National Communication Authority (NCA) has accordingly been instructed to assist AIRTEL to remedy the situation.

He noted that through  NCA's anti-fraud monitoring responsibility, Kasapa network was the only operator who recorded fewer fraudulent numbers citing only three cases in June 2010 and one case in January 2011, adding that all the other networks including; MTN, AIRTEL, TIGO and VODAFONE, have recorded fluctuating escalating fraudulent numbers in the same period.

He said the anti-fraud exercise of the NCA recently led to the seizure of 8,792 SIM cards and the arrest of two illegal operators which saved the nation about $500,000 revenue loss per month, which government would have lost up to 100,000 per month in tax/levy collection.

He pointed out that the installation of the intelligence signaling management system (SIM Box Fraud Detection Tool) to verify the Call Data Records of the networks of the telecom operators have been stalled as a result of a court action initiated by some three Ghanaian citizens.

The Minister observed that before the court action, NCA have successfully installed and tested the equipment for only MTN and AIRTEL at designated locations, adding that of TIGO and VODAFONE are yet to be installed.

Mr. Idrisu expressed government's commitment to the implementation of the policy to address fraud and other by-pass mechanisms.

Source: ISD (Gilbert Ankrah / Richie Osei)