The Instant Billing Feedback System by the National Communications Authority (NCA) has been adjudged Best ICT Policy and Regulatory Initiative by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) this year.

Director-General of NCA, William Tevie, told executives of the Network of Communication Reporters (NCR) that the NCA was proud of the award, particularly because the Billing Feedback System was a manifestation of the Authority’s commitment to protect telecom service consumers.

The NCR executives had paid a courtesy call on the NCA boss to congratulate him on his recent confirmation as the substantive Director-General.

In 2014, the NCA, in consultation with the telcos, implemented the Billing Feedback System for pre-paid mobile network subscribers, as part of the Authority’s mandate to protect consumers.

Mr Tevie noted that the system was to resolve recurring complaints from pre-paid subscribers on billing and credit issues and give pre-paid consumers instant access to their billing and remove unsubstantiated claims on billing and thereby build trust between the service providers and their customers.

"As a result of the system, all the telcos now use Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), to send instant feedback to their pre-paid subscribers after every billable transaction, whether voice or data and that has cleared the doubts about billing," he said.

William Tevie commended the telcos for their cooperation during the implementation of the project and every staff member of the Authority for the effort they put into ensuring the success of this initiative.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tevie has initiated what he calls the Director's Forum at NCA, to bring industry experts together to discuss topical and emerging industry issues every last Friday of every month.

He took the opportunity to invite the NCR to be part of the forum.

Dean of NCR, Charles Benoni Okine, congratulated the NCA for winning a consumer-centric  award and expressed the hope that more or such policies would emerge from the NCA to ensure value for consumers.

He also congratulated NCA for issuing 4G LTE-compatible spectrum to an operator that promises to popularize access to the technology for the benefit of the greater majority of Ghanaian.

Charles Okine was however worried that lack of affordable 4G devices may deny the greater majority of Ghanaians the full benefits of the technology.

"We, therefore, urge the NCA to impress upon government to cut the heavy tariffs on mobile device imports in order for the prices to come down for more Ghanaians to be able to afford them," he said.

Liaison Officer of NCR, Samuel Dowuona, also reminded the NCA of its initiative months ago to collaborate with handset manufacturers like Nokia and Huawei to churn out affordable 4G devices in the country.

"If we can go back to that initiative I am sure it will help most Ghanaians to access 4G across the country, as MTN has made it available in all 10 regions of the country," he said.

Other executives of NCR also congratulated the DG and assured the NCA of continuous collaboration to ensure the progress of the telecom/ICT industry for the benefit of Ghanaians.