AfriWave Sets Records Right On ICH And Matters Arising At Editors Forum

Management of Afriwave Telecom, a wholly owned Ghanaian company that employs a wide range of technologies in its operations including GSM, GPRS, LTE, Wi-max and CDMA; also a leading provider of Telecom solutions on Thursday met a section of senior editors in Ghana at the Golden Tulip Hotel, Accra.

The purpose of the meeting was to engage the media and walk editors through the operations of the company, make clear their functions and most importantly educate the media extensively on the Interconnect Clearing House (ICH) which has generated a lot of debates lately.

Afriwave Telecom is Ghana’s licensed interconnect clearing house (ICH) service provider which begun monitoring the volume of international incoming telecommunications traffic, local interconnect traffic and NCA revenue verification.

It was started by two brothers, David and Francis Poku, in 1998 and has since been engaged in several telecoms projects in Ghana since it was set up in 1998.

Afriwave is into telecommunication equipment supplies and service provision as installation contractors, telecom consultants, manufacturers' representatives and value added network services aimed at serving both private and public sector clients.

The Director of Corporate Affairs at Afriwave, Mr. Donald Gwira, in a presentation revealed that the company has emabrked on a couple of projects including the ìInstallation of fixed broadband systems for the then Ghana Telecoms (now Vodafone), a contract to do fault clearance and maintenance in 2011.

Between 2004 and 2007, it assisted Vodafone to detect SIM - box fraud on fixed telephone lines (land lines) used to illegally terminate international calls in Ghana on the network.

Afriwave also carried out a number of projects for Zain Ghana (now Airtel Ghana). This included the migration of fixed line customers from Western Telecommunications Network (Westel) to that of Zain in 2008.

The company has also been involved in the deployment of solar powered GSM Payphones in some Senior High Schools across the country in September 2010 and has deployed over 1,150 payphones so far.

"We Partnered Helios Towers and ZTE to roll out and manage cell sites across the country. Afriwave also carried out a number of projects for Zain Ghana (now Airtel Ghana). This included the migration of fixed line customers from Western Telecommunications Network (Westel) to that of Zain in 2008."

Touching on the ICH contract, he disclosed that on 2nd December, 2014 there was an Open invitation for applications for a license to operate Clearinghouse services in Ghana.

He said on 12th January, 2015, Five applicants were given the opportunity to make oral submissions on their bids and respond to any further queries while additional documentation to validate responses given at the presentations were subsequently submitted by the applicants on 14th January, 2015.

"On 2nd February, 2015, there was Notification from the National Communications Authority (NCA) that Afriwave was selected as winner of the ICH tender.

Following this announcement, on 2nd June, 2015, a Provisional License was awarded to Afriwave Telecom Ghana Ltd. and on 17th July, 2015, Afriwave Telecom Ghana Ltd paid GHS 4,000,000 for the License. On 28th January, 2016, Huawei equipment was fully installed, tested and linked to ALL six mobile network operators namely MTN, TIGO, GLOBACOM, AIRTEL, EXPRESSO and VODAFONE. Afriwave drove eco-friendly innovation by using clay bricks (with natural cooling properties) to save cost of construction of the cell site generator houses," Mr. Gwira indicated.

On the benefits Ghana would derive from the ICH the Afriwave corporate affairs director stated that the technology has the ability to independently validate NCA surcharge for international incoming traffic and NCA license revenue and also coordinates effort in tackling SIM-Box fraud with the MNOs.

According to him, the ICH has the ability to independently validate minutes and revenue from each operator for the NCA and Ability to alert Bank of Ghana on amount of forex due to incoming international traffic

He further added...."with this technology, there is Efficient handling of new and traditional interconnect requirements (eg. International Wholesale License Carriers, 4G operators). Give them the ability to offer voice services without having to lay fibre to all 6 mobile operators.

"It enables new Value Added Services to be deployed and connected to MNO relatively easily; assists in the deployment of current and future technologies since ICH will give VAS providers (primarily Ghanaian entrepreneurs one point to be able to deliver services to ALL networks); coordinated effort to curtail Phone theft; Ensure that only NCA approved equipment is sold and deployed in Ghana; provision of independently verified Industry Data for the government of Ghana for the purpose of policy making; provision Financial Clearing house services to facilitate easier settlement of interconnect fees amongst MNOs and potentially MNOs and VAS providers; and also ensures Better utilization of Interconnect links," Mr. Gwira explained.