The commencement of monitoring operations by Ghana's interconnect clearing house Afriwave is expected to bring more transparency to operations in the West African country's telecoms sector. The company is now monitoring the traffic of international telecommunications, local interconnect traffic and NCA revenue verification.

Afriwave's core objective is to provide Ghana's National Communications Authority (NCA) with transparent data to ensure accurate billing of services providers and reinforce policy management.

"Afriwave is tasked to monitor traffic volumes of each service provider and network operator for both international incoming and local interconnect traffic. The monitoring enables the interconnect clearing house to present international incoming and local interconnection traffic information on a consolidated dashboard. This gives the regulator a snapshot overview of what is going on in the industry," the company said in a statement.

Using the international incoming traffic information, the regulator will be able to accurately invoice mobile network operators, said Afriwave. "The information also provides visibility on NCA regulatory fees, and international incoming traffic surcharge," it said.

Afriwave is responsible for the deactivation of at least 300,000 SIM cards within 6 months as a result of fraud.

Meanwhile Ghana's parliament has approved the interconnect clearing house regulation following debates over the handling of the interconnection costs, with the NCA agreeing to be responsible for the cost incurred till 31 December 2017.

"NCA will continue to undertake its regulatory functions with integrity and transparency to ensure quality provision of ICT regulatory interventions for the benefit of Ghanaians. Through the ICH, we are able to increase focus on transparency at all levels of operations to ensure ethical functioning within the telecommunication industry," said William Tevie, Director General of the NCA.