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I am a business reporter with Daily Guide and Business Guide newspapers published by the Western Group of Companies. I was a general reporter when I joined Daily Guide in 2006, but along the line I realized the need to specialize. So I found business reporting as the best area to specialize and I have been on the desk for about four years now. Since I started reporting on business related issues my interest has being in the areas of telecommunications, the extractive industry (ie. oil, gas and mining), and the Small and Medium scale Enterprise (SME) sector. I have a page dedicated to SMEs in the weekly Business Guide newspaper were I write features on the SME sector in Ghana. In view of this I was adjudged the best SME reporter for 2009 during the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) awards in 2010. This has further motivated me to pursue development driven stories which will help change policies and enhance the livelihoods of Ghanaians. I am a member of the Ghana Journalists Association and an executive member of the Network of Communication Reporters (NCR) in Ghana.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

More Taxes Will Kill Us – MTN CEO


From left: MTN CEO, Michael Ikpoki, Ghana Journalist Association President, Rasford Tetteh and PRINPAG President, Gina Ama Blay interacting after the event
By Esther Awuah 

Despite its contribution to national development, the telecommunications industry remains one of the heavily taxed sectors of the economy.

According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Michael Ikpoki, high cost of operation and pressure from increased taxes and levies are greatly affecting their operations.
He warned that the continuous increase in taxes will put a heavy burden on the operations of the sector.

“If taxes continue to increase, it puts a lot of pressure on us as a business – and that has been a real concern to us,” the CEO emphasized.

He stated that in 2012, the company paid a total tax of about GH¢448 million, explaining that for every GH¢1 that is spent by a customer which comes to MTN as revenue, 31 per cent of that goes to taxes.

He noted that “we have tried to communicate clearly that this industry needs support in terms of putting in place the infrastructure needed to support the growing customer base and provide modern data services. And we hope government would grant our request.”

Mr. Ikpoki was addressing editors and media practitioners from various media houses during the 2013 Editors Forum at the Golden Tulip in Accra yesterday.

He stated that the company’s new vision and mission statements point to enhancing data coverage, which would be aimed at making the lives of the customers brighter and more productive.

He indicated that MTN’s strategic plans for 2013 include “creating a distinct customer experience; driving a sustainable growth; transforming MTN’s operational model aimed at achieving a positive customer experience; innovation and best practices backed with relevant products, and focus on how to create and manage stakeholder value.

He said despite the dynamic nature of industry and the rise in competition, MTN will continue to invest and improve its network quality in order to achieve customer satisfaction.
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