Vodafone Ghana is making headway in the fight against illegal Sim box operations that have plagued the telecom industry for sometime now.
SIM box is a device that maps call from Voice Over internet protocol (VoIP) to a SIM card (in the SIM box) of the same mobile operator of the destination mobile; so that international call terminating as home call to subscriber country and usually cheap compared to the cost of terminating the international call. This leads to great loss of revenue for both telecom operators and the country.
In May this year, the telco giant in collaboration with the police service and other security and regulatory agencies exposed a sim-boxing syndicate, located in the GREDA Estate of Teshie-Nungua.
Also, in August, together with the personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, Vodafone Ghana uncovered another group operating in Sakumono.
According to the Director of Corporate Integrity and Risk at Vodafone Ghana, Ashley Ratcliffe, the total revenue loss to the state as a result of these illegal operations was crippling.
�The government loses about GHC 2. 3 million per month as a result of these illegal activities,� Ratcliffe said in a statement. �That is why Vodafone Ghana is very aggressive and committed to eliminating this canker in the telecoms industry. �
He continued: �In the last 12 months, Vodafone Ghana, together with the security agencies, has successfully busted four operations. We are happy to report that Vodafone simcard usage in simboxes has reduced by 93% since the last arrest in September. �
The statement has it that from January to June this year, Vodafone saved a total of GHC 6. 1 million in revenue from interconnect fraud, but suffered actual losses of GHC 257,000. 00.
In September alone, according to the statement, the NCA detected (using their own system) 5,454 sims being used for simboxes. �Of these only 21 (0. 39%) were Vodafone simcards. The illegal termination of telephone traffic undoubtedly cripples the financial fortunes of telecom companies and the revenue targets of government,� it stated.
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