The Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has cautioned telecom firms that government will take action against those that refuse to review their charges downwards, to reflect the new communication service tax reduction.

The Finance Minister during the mid-year budget review announced a reduction of the tax from the previous nine percent to five percent as a move to cushion consumers from the plight of the coronavirus pandemic.

As the reviewed tariff is expected to kick start from today, Communication Minister, Ursula-Owusu-Ekuful is also urging consumers to report any operator that goes contrary to the law so that the regulator can sanction them.

“We worked with the networks, Ghana Revenue Authority, Ministry of Finance to go through all the processes to ensure that on 15th September, we can stop deducting nine percent of CST and reduce it to five percent. They are ready; they’ve assured me that their systems are ready. So please, I would urge all of you [consumers] to assist us with the feedback.”

“If for some reason you don’t see a noticeable reduction in the cost of mobile telephony services, both voice and data; they’re still deducting full 9%. Kindly notify us and the NCA, and we will take action,” she said.

The Minister while speaking with Journalists at Nkwanta in the Oti Region after addressing the climax of the girls in ICT celebration, used the occasion to announce government’s intention to provide internet connectivity to over one thousand rural areas without network.

“This government has put serious emphasis on it and it is one of our priority areas because of our focus of formalizing our economy through digitization. We need that robust infrastructure to make that happen and we’re working with all the telcom companies and the Ghana Investment Fund for electronic communication to make it happen,” she stated.