Head of Corporate Communications at Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited, Donald Gwira has called on all stakeholders in the telecoms ecosystem and all well meaning Ghanaians to join hands and work towards a successful interconnect clearinghouse (ICH) service delivery.

Afriwave is the company licensed by the National Communications Authority (NCA) to provide the ICH services in Ghana, and Gwira's call comes on the heels of the passage of the law backing the implementation of ICH services in Ghana.

Parliament recently passed Electronic Communications (Amendment) Bill, 2016 into law, giving the implementation of the ICH a legal backing.

The law however stripped the ICH of the originally intended monopolistic nature and also of the right to offer tax revenue assurance services to the state.

There is also some argument about whether telcos would be mandated to route incoming international traffic through the ICH.

But in spite of all those, a grateful Donald Gwira said "thank God for the eventual passage of the Bill despite the attempts of some individuals with vested interest to stop the Bill passage."

He indicated that the numerous benefits that will accrue to the industry from a successful implementation of ICH services in Ghana far outweighed the challenges.

Gwira also expressed joy that the process has gone through full review culminating in the issuance of the ICH license by the NCA and now the passage of the Bill by the Parliament to back it up.

"Now that ICH is the law of the land, it is time everyone moved on and focused on efficient service delivery," he said.

The Afriwave Communications Head stated that the company is capable of implementing the full ICH classes of services in Ghana within the timeline stipulated by the NCA and that the entire country and sub-region would soon see the effect.

In the words of Gwira, "Afriwave has implemented the key infrastructure to offer the services listed as Phase1 of our ICH service delivery for several months now. If not for the objections we have been receiving and lack of cooperation from some of the industry players, we would have fully implemented the Phase 1 and Phase 2 of our services offering by now."

He said Afriwave possesses the technical, financial, and operational skills set for a seamless ICH service delivery to the industry.

Gwira said ICH will save Ghana million of dollars in losses from Simboxing and capital flight as a result of Ghanaian operators currently handling their VAS, Roaming, and international settlement through foreign third party Interconnect Clearinghouses.

He believes it is time all the key stakeholder came together and worked with Afriwave to ensure this noble quest achieves it set objectives as Ghana ushers in a new phase in the telecom industry.

"This will lead to higher quality of service, prevent capital flight, create high quality technical employment, and improve the overall telecom industry of Ghana," he stated.