Ghana "Talk Tax" Amendment Passes Despite Opposition
Big concerns over small print in amendment to CST bill and how it will effect incoming calls to Ghana.
Online, August 1, 2013 (Newswire.com) - Ghanaians worldwide expected to see rising communication costs as result of new bill.
The Parliament of Ghana has passed an amendment to the Communications Service Tax bill, which is designed to levy a tax on providers for all interconnected communication traffic, including phone calls, text messages, as well as email. This tax (also dubbed the "talk tax") is expected to create a baseline increase in calling rates across all local providers, which will ultimately shift this tax burden to Ghanaians who are living abroad and calling home to their friends and family.
View official release from the Parliament of Ghana: http://www.parliament.gh/news.php?news=142
VIP Communications is working closely with Ghana's trusted telecom services to ensure that their subscribers are least-impacted by these new regulations. Beginning in August, the United Kingdom will be joining a growing list of countries covered by VIP's Direct Line Ghana service.
"... legislators and industry players were sharply divided over the move and called for the truncation of the process because consumers would be hard hit."
Direct Line Ghana allows VIP subscribers to have their own local Ghana phone number which forwards international calls to any US, CA, or UK phone for under half the price. This service is exempt from the "talk tax", and callers in Ghana will not pay international rates to reach these unique numbers. Additionally, Vodafone subscribers in Ghana can dial to these numbers free of charge, leaving Direct Line in a class all of its own.
For updates on the availability of Direct Line Ghana, please visit this link: http://www2.joinvip.com/directlineghana