Government to tax calls on all social media platforms soon - Ursula Owusu reveals
- Government is considering generating revenue from calls on social media platforms
- According to Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the government is losing revenues as traditional sources of telecoms revenue like voice declines
- She said the taxes will help fund the government in its quest to accelerate the use of digital technology, applications, and services at all levels
Our manifesto: This is what YEN.com.gh believes in
Despite buying data that is in one way or the other taxed by network service providers, Ghanaians will soon start paying for calls on social media platforms.
According to the Minister of Communications and Digitization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the government is considering generating some revenue from calls on social media platforms.
In a report filed by Pulse.com.gh, she reportedly hinted that stakeholders in the telecommunication sector will be engaged on how government can shore up its revenue.
Source: Facebook
She added that since the government is determined to accelerate the use of digital technology, applications, and services at all levels, it is only through tax revenue mobilization that such investments and more can be funded.
The minister said one of the reasons for such a decision is because the government is currently losing huge revenues from the mobile network operators to over-the-top (OTT) digital service providers as traditional sources of telecoms revenue like voice declines.
It is important that we have a frank, open dialogue on this, and explore other sources of revenue within the digital services space to improve government domestic revenue mobilization,” Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful said.
An over-the-top (OTT) digital service is a media service offered directly to telecommunication customers via the Internet. OTT bypasses cable, broadcast, and satellite television platforms.
In other news, government has sent a delegation from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and Africa Environmental Sanitation Consult (AFESC) to Kigali Rwanda.
Together with the aforementioned institutions, some staff from Zoomlion are in Kigali to understudy the country’s waste management system.
The team from Ghana will also be learning good environmental and sanitation practices.
The visit will enable them to learn how their practices could be adopted by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly in order to make Accra and Ghana the cleanest city and country in Africa.
Enjoy reading our stories? Join YEN.com.gh's Telegram channel! Never miss important updates
Download YEN's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Ghana news.
Source: YEN.com.gh
