Parliament has passed into law a bill that will bring changes to the Interconnect Clearing House (ICH) deal, Member of Parliament (MP) for Obuasi West, Kwaku Kwarteng has revealed.

He said the Electronic Communications Amendment Act has removed the portion of the deal which grants the ICH operator the right to have a monopoly over the provision of communication services in the country.

According to him, the law has made it possible for the National Communication Authority (NCA) to allow more than one company to run the Interconnect Clearing House.

“When the public position in the law is multiplicity, the regulator [NCA] has no mandate to frustrate the process”, he said.

Mr. Kwarteng has described the changes as good news adding that the scope of the ICH has profoundly been reduced.

On March 17, Parliament passed the Electronic Communications Amendment Act which established the Interconnect Clearing House as the only way for networks to connect with each other.

The House made major changes in the Act including changing the monopoly status of the ICH making it possible for the NCA to have multiple ICH to enable competition which the former provision sought to erode.

It also removed the provision which grants the ICH operator the license to conduct revenue monitoring services – a reserve of the Ministry of Finance.

The ICH deal has generated some heated debate in the country after the NCA granted a license to Afriwave Ghana Limited – the company that won the bid to operate the Interconnect Clearing House in the country.

The NCA has said it opened the invitation for applications for a license on December 2, 2014, and received five applications from Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited, Channel IT, Global Voice Group, Subah Infosolutions Ghana Limited and Prodigy Ghana Limited.

According to the Director-General of NCA, William Tevi, the Board of Directors duly adjudged Afriwave Ghana Limited as the winner of the Clearinghouse license after a comprehensive and transparent evaluation process.

He revealed his outfit would not succumb to pressures demanding NCA revoke the deal adding the bidding process was free and fair and the best company won.

However, civil societies such as OccupyGhana and IMANI Ghana have lashed out at the NCA Director-General, Board of Directors and Minister of Communications describing the process leading to the awarding of the contract as “unfair and fraudulent”.

Deputy Minister for Communication, Ato Sarpong said contrary to what Ghanaians are made to believe, the ICH deal is being implemented for the good of Ghanaians adding that it is to address the inefficiencies of communication services in the country especially the one relating to the increment of call rate for both local and international calls.

He said call rates both local and international are expected to go up yearly, however, the ICH deal is meant to control such increment.

Mr. Sarpong also said ICH deal is meant to create a centralized body so that the “headache of [communication] operators” in the country would be reduced.