| FOLLOWING
amendments on the Finance Act 2016, the government has collected more
than 3 billion/- from two telecommunications firms in the country in
July alone.Speaking
before the Infrastructure Development Parliamentary Committee,
Assistant Manager (Large Taxpayers Department) of Tanzania Revenue
Authority (TRA), Mr Godwin Barongo, said this was made possible by the
installation of the Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring System (TTMS).
Mr
Barongo explained that the TTMS, installed by the Tanzania
Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), has been helpful in getting
data and report of money transfers, which are then compared with reports
given by the telecommunication companies, who are the tax-payers.
“In
essence, TTMS also acts as a compliance monitoring tool, because
telecommunication companies know that there is a monitoring system in
place, they provide correct data which has helped a lot,” Mr Barongo,
who was representing the Commissioner General explained.
Citing
an example of July, Mr Barongo noted that Vodacom used to pay an
average of 360m/- per month on excise duty on money transfers but in
July, the company paid 1.9bn/-, while Tigo, which used to pay an average
of 250m/- per month, paid 1.48bn/- in the same period.
Responding
to questions from the committee as to why the telecommunication
companies are not among the top ten revenue payers, Mr Barongo explained
that companies are categorised according to sectors.
On
money transfers, according to the TRA official, compliance level has
shot up tremendously and with the amendment of the Finance Act of 2016,
whose implementation started in July, this year, revenue from the
telecommunication companies has increased tenfold.
Mr
Barongo noted that together with TCRA, they are now focusing on
capturing revenue on all products in the telecommunication industry at
activation point through the proposed Telecommunication Revenue
Assurance System (TRASS).
“When
the user tops up from a scratch card, we will see the money; likewise
with electronic top up through M-pesa and Tigo Pesa and the others. With
this in place, revenue will likely go up,” he explained to the
committee members, who were so pleased with the work done by the two
institutions so far.
The
TRA official noted that the system will be able to categorise revenue
from voice, short messages (SMS) and data. He noted that the Tanzania
Telecommunication Company Ltd (TTCL)’s contribution is still low and
needs to be assisted.
On
his part, the TCRA Acting Director General, Engineer James Kilamba,
said TTMS has also helped to capture revenue from telecommunication
calls outside Tanzania whose subscribers made calls to telephone
subscribers in Tanzania.
Responding
to question as why TCRA did not prosecute mobile money fraudsters or
those who use the phones to insult others, Eng Kilamba said TCRA did not
have the mandate to take the culprits to court, but usually avails the
needed data to security organs that have the mandate.
The
Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, Engineer Edwin
Ngonyani, noted that the only way to give mandate to TCRA was through
changing the respective laws.
Earlier,
Mr Ahmed Shabiby (Gairo-CCM), Mr Abbas Mwinyi (Fuoni-CCM), Mr William
Dua Nkurua (Nanyumbu-CCM) and several other MPs claimed that they had
fallen prey to fraudsters, who hijacked their numbers and sent out
messages asking for money from friends and relatives.
On
his part, the Acting Chairperson of the Committee, Mr Selemani Moshi
Kakoso (Mpanda Rural-CCM), commended the government through TCRA and TRA
for implementing the committee’s directives that have seen an increase
in government revenue from the telecommunication companies.
Mr
Kakoso stressed that the collaboration between the entities should be
deepened and a team formed to ensure more revenue avenues are
identified.
He
directed TCRA to cooperate with telecommunication companies to reduce
money theft where unscrupulous persons hack other people’s accounts and
use them to con people.
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