TELECOM SERVICES
REVENUE MONITORING

The telecommunication services industry is a trillion-dollar market that caters to today’s interconnected world, where mobile telephony has become a necessity of life, and broadband data access continues to gain traction.

In addition to generating enormous wealth, this market also represents a substantial fiscal revenue for governments. The telecommunication services industry is indeed subject to a wide range of levies, including:

• Mobile operator’s indirect taxes (e.g. VAT, excise) and direct taxes (e.g. corporate income tax)
• Surtaxes on international incoming traffic
• Import duties on mobile phones
• Contributions to the Universal Service Fund

Levies are collected using a self-declarative model. However, due to the high volume of transactions and the technical complexity of tariff schemes, authorities find it particularly difficult to trust the accuracy of declarations filed by their national telecommunication operators. This leaves the door open to tax revenue losses and fraudulent behaviour.

SICPA provides a comprehensive technology solution allowing government authorities to monitor telecommunication services revenue in real-time. Since this is a passive system, the technology does not provide any access to conversation content and personal information, nor does it disturb or impact local networks. Only logs generated by the equipment used by telecom operators, date, time, duration, service, incoming/outgoing caller ID, tariff, etc. are tracked.

Operator revenue auditing

Based on near real time logs collection and using proprietary algorithms, this module accurately calculates the revenue collected by the network operators from subscribers and cross-charged fees with other national and international carriers.  It also precisely compiles all taxes, duties, licence fees and other contributions required from the telecom operators. This data can also be mined for regulatory control, facilitating surveillance, increasing transparency and compliance.

Mobile phone importation enforcement

This module allows tax authorities to monitor the market by providing real-time visibility on all active mobile phones in the country and by electronically collecting any outstanding levies during use. Since the solution detects every active phone, it also allows actions to be taken by regulators on phones reported as lost or stolen, and not compliant with national standards.

Mobile transactions monitoring

This module effectively acts as an electronic monitoring system in this growing market, while preserving users interests and privacy. It immediately detects non-compliant transactions, such as those exceeding the maximum authorised received amount and balance. Its rule-based engine also automatically detects suspicious activities. This helps tax authorities identify unregistered businesses and detect potential cases of illicit and under-declared activities.