Customers to enjoy cheaper call rates from today
All consumers of mobile phone services would enjoy cheaper calls and mobile data as a result of a reduction in the Communication Service Tax (CST) from Tuesday, September 15, 2020.
The government announced in July this year a reduction in the CST from nine per cent to five per cent as part of measures to cushion Ghanaians against the biting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Announcing the roll-out of the reduction in Accra, the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Kenneth Ashigbey said, “The tariff adjustment programme means when our customers pay the same price they would enjoy more”.
A release by the Chamber, the umbrella association for the telcos, said the smooth reconfiguration of their systems to accommodate the new changes, is a testament of the effective dialogue and stakeholder engagements led by the Finance Ministry and other agencies.
Theghanareport.com first published the dates for the new tariff regime by the Chamber in August.
The new tariff implies that for every GHC10.00 worth of credit, a customer will pay a total tax of GHC 1.92 and have GHC 8.09 to buy voice, SMS or data.
Previously, at 9% CST, a customer would have paid a total tax of GHC 2.21 and had GHC 7.80 pesewas to buy voice, SMS or data.
This means the consumer would have saved about 30 pesewas on that same amount of credit.
Reason for tax cuts
The aim is to ease the burden on subscribers as the public switch to non-contact communications in the era of COVID-19.
Health experts have advised social distancing to cut physical contact as a measure of halting the contagion that has killed 298 people, with 41,212 confirmed cases and 38,727 recoveries/discharges, according to the Ghana Health Service (GHS) update as of Tuesday, August 11.
Phone calls and internet use have soared not only in Ghana but across the globe, with government institutions, businesses, educational institutions and the entertainment industry, among others, switching to online platforms for operations.
The government has recognised the need for interventions for users even though telcos are one of the biggest gainers of the pandemic with skyrocketing profits.
What is CST
CST is a tax levied on charges for the use of communications services that are provided by electronic communications service providers.
CST is imposed under Section 1 of the Communications Service Tax Act 2008, (Act 754) and CST(Amendment) Act, 2013 (Act 864).
It is paid by consumers to the communications service providers, who in turn pay all CST collected to the Domestic Tax Revenue Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority on a monthly basis.
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is required under the law, to pay the CST collected into the Consolidated Fund.
Below is the statement: