GRi Business, Economics & Finance 04 - 06 – 2002
Kooconsult launches public internet access booths service
Volta River Authority to buy gas from Nigerian consortium
New trotro and taxi income tax
Cape Coast (Central Region) 04 June 2002 - As part of its NETTSTREAM Internet Access Service, Kooconsult has launcehd a Public Internet Access Booth Service called NETTKIOSK.
The service, which would be made available through franchises in all African countries, has taken off in Cape Coast, Ghana. Internet connectivity to the Internet Access Booths is via NETTSTREAM'S Broadband Wireless Network Infrastructure.
NETTKIOSK is billed to become the Internet version of public payphones with users purchasing prepaid cards to browse on the terminals. Rates are about US$1 per hour, and cards purchased in one country can be used on NETKIOSKs in other countries.
Franchises are provided on a per city or town basis, and all that the franchissee does is to purchase at least fifty Internet Access Booths, each costing US FOB. The franchisee must also obtain a permit and pay local taxes, duties and permit fees, to enable Kooconsult construct a wireless broadband network, and to install the Satellite Terminal to provide two-way internet connectivity.
Kooconsult plans to deploy at least 2,000 booths by the fourth quarter of 2003. With the average net density in Africa being 1 to 200, there is plenty of potential for expansion. As part of thee overall plan, Kooconsult is working on co-locating a revolutionary broadband satellite Internet hub at two international teleports, to provide connectivity to the remote satellite terminals. The NETTSTREAM infrastructure would also support Kooconsult, Mobile Internet Service.
Kooconsult has also initiated action towards the expansion of its NETTSTREAM Service to other African Countries, as part of its Global Strategy. It is inviting companies in other African countries to submit Letters of Interest to become NETTSTREAM Country Resellers.
Resellers would be required to have a valid ISP licence, VSAT licence, and Wireless Network Operational Licence. They would also be required to set up an initial NETTSTREAM Public Internet Room, of at least fifty computers. Kooconsult, is providing the needed E-infrastructure in the various countries.
Kooconsult intends to start deployment of fibre backbone for its E-Infrastructure, using Non dispersion fibre, with capacities of 10Gbps. The backbone would be dedicated Internet protocol based, and be an Optical Transport System, fully protected ring.
The configuration would consist of Optical Add/Drop Multiplexers that would connect to wireless Local Area Network Infrastructure, for its NETTSTREAM mobile/roaming service.
Kooconsult is also working on setting up an INTERNET CONTENT CENTRE. The centre would house computer equipment for content hosting and management. A location close to the regeneration and landing site for,the West African Submarine Cable in Ghana, has been selected.
It is envisaged that OC48 fibre would be terminated in the facility. KOOCONSULT also intends to have a teleport, using SAMA technology at this location, to provide two way broadband Internet connectivity to remote VSAT sites, used for its NETSTREAM service.
GRi../
Send your views to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Akuse (Eastern Region) 04 June20002- The Volta River Authority (VRA) and N-Gas, a consortium of three Nigerian gas producers on Monday signed a letter of intent (LOI) that establishes the basic business relationships on which the West African Gas Pipeline Project would be realised.
The consortium, made up of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), Chevron-Texaco and Shell signed the agreement that spelt out the terms under which a sales agreement would be concluded on the supply of gas to the VRA for its thermal power generation.
The LOI outlines the key commercial arrangements that would make the parties become strong and vibrant co-operation partners in the WAGP, which aimed to develop and integrate the economies of countries in the West African sub-region through a reliable supply of energy.
The signing of the agreement also represented a major step forward to realising the goals of construction and commissioning of the about 600 kilometres pipeline to carry gas from Nigeria to Ghana, Togo and Benin. Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of Energy, Mr. Albert Kan-Dapaah asked the various countries involved in the project to sustain their commitment and drive and to also stick to the timetable to bring the project on stream at the target date of 2004.
He said Ghana's status, as a stable and credible destination for foreign direct investments would be enhanced once the project development was concluded and cheap and reliable electricity and gas became available.
The Minister said the commissioning of the project would
help the country to reduce cost of thermal power by substituting cheaper gas
for the crude oil, which is being currently used to generate power to meet
increasing demands for electricity in the country.
Dr. Charles Wereko Brobby, Chief Executive of the VRA said the organisation would be unable to carry out its mandate to ensure a steady supply of electricity, if it was not paid realistic tariffs for its operations. He said the government supported the project because it would ensure a reliable power supply at an affordable price to consumers. Mr Jehoshaphat Anigbo, Chairman of N-Gas said the signing was a major move to have the gas delivered.
He pointed out that although the gas project had taken so long, the implementers were making the necessary efforts to address all environmental concerns for a smooth start. Mr Anigbo assured stakeholders that the company would work hard to complete the project on schedule.
The WAGP, which was initiated in 1992 as a regional response to the global concerns about the damage to the world's environment is now being run by the West African Gas Pipeline Company, the consortium made up of Chevron-Texaco, the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation, NNPC and the VRA. They have together invested about 500 million dollars in the project.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 04 June 2002 - The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Monday launched new receipt booklets for commercial vehicles that take into consideration the revised weekly tax rates for some categories of vehicles. Each booklet contains 100 receipts with counterfoils to ensure proper accounting. The face value of each receipt is printed on it to avoid fiddling with actual payments, Mrs Janet Opoku-Akyeampong, Commissioner for the IRS, said.
Te receipts have holograms bearing the initials of the IRS and other in-built security features to reduce the incidence of fake receipts. Extra features of the new receipt books are the name and signature of the collector on the receipt and the counterfoil, the coat of arms and penalty. For the revised rates for vehicles, taxis and cars on hire within town now pay 5,000 cedis from 2,000 cedis weekly.
Tro-tro vehicles with 19 seats and less now pay 5,000 cedis from 2,000 cedis while those with 20 to 34 seats, which paid 3,000 cedis would now pay 7,500 cedis. Vehicles with 35 seats and more, which paid 4,000 cedis would now pay 10,500 while the rate for light dry cargo vehicles goes up from 3,000 cedis to 7,500 cedis.
Mrs Opoku-Akyeampong said the rates for the other categories of commercial vehicles remained unchanged and emphasised that tax in the transport sector was borne by the transport owner and not the commercial driver. She cautioned drivers not to increase transport fares as a result of increase because the tax is not a consumption tax and must not be passed on to the passenger.
Moreover, she said, it was incumbent upon on all income earners especially the self-employed in the formal sector to prepare and submit accounts on their business activities by April 30 every year. She reminded transport unions and associations that the IRS would pay commissions based on the amount of revenue collected and urged the associations to pay all penalties to the tax body.
The IRS boss said a target of 28 billion cedis has been set for the transport associations and unions for this year. The Ghana Private Road
Transport Union (GPRTU) is expected to collect 18 billion cedis and other transport unions and associations would collect the rest.
Mrs Opoku-Akyeampong said the IRS was setting up a monitoring taskforce to operate round-the-clock on selected highways. Kiosks, which would be identified by the IRS colours of cream and grey and the corporate logo, would be sited at lorry parks as part of the monitoring mechanism.
She stated the readiness of the Commission to monitor the tax system to bring about greater efficiency in tax collection and reduce revenue loss through tax evasion and corruption.
GRi…/
Send views to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 04 June2002- The GSE All-Share Index continued to maintain its rise during trading on Monday going up by 4.76 points to close the day at
1,137.44 points.
Nine equities made gains that wiped out the 100-cedi loss of Aluworks (ALW) on the day that saw 484,700 shares changing hands, slightly higher than 371,000 shares sold on Friday. Market capitalisation was also up at 4,253.75 billion cedis compared with 4,243.60 billion cedis on Friday. Change for the year was 18.99 per cent.
On the broader market, Enterprise Insurance Company led the way with a 200-cedi gin at 4,000 cedis. SSB Bank was 99 cedis richer at 3,500 cedi, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), the highest priced equity, gained 51 cedis at 20,551 cedis, Fan Milk Limited (FML) rose by 49 cedis at 1,400 cedis, Mechanical Lloyd appreciated by 20 cedis at 250 cedis and Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) was 15 cedis higher at 345 cedis.
Unilever (UNIL) and Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) gained five cedis each at 3,012 cedis and 2,515 cedis respectively and British American Tobacco inched up by one cedi at 913 cedis. The only loser was ALW, which depreciated by 100 cedis at 4,100 cedis.
The following are the last prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 345 + 15
AGC 18,800
ALW 4,100 - 100
BAT 913 + 1
CFAO 60
EIC 4,000 +200
FML 1,400 +49
GBL 900
GCB 2,515 +5
GGL 910
HFC 955
MGL 251
MLC 250 +20
MOGL 18,820
PAF 750
PBC 450
PZ 1,600
SCB 20,551 +51
SPPC 370
SSB 3,500 +99
SWL 285
UNIL 3,012 +5
CMLT 435
GRi…/
Send your views to viewpoint@ghanareview.com