The 2006 Telecommunications Act gives National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM) the mandate to regulate all aspects of the International Gate Way (IGW). The Act also gave Sierratel the monopoly to own, manage and operate the installation of the IGW in the country. In 2008, Sierratel subcontracted the operational management of the IGW to Teltac Africa Ltd. Testifying at Commission 65, Rayan Elzein, Accountant at Teltac said that over the nine year period that they were in joint contract with Sierratel they paid US$86 million dollars.
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The Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) received US$10,893,800, NATCOM received US$3,499,746 and Sierratel were paid US$71,957,755. Questioned by State Counsel Robert B. Kowa on Wednesday 14th August, 2019, the witness was earlier asked what were the services they provided to the country. He replied that they were providing telecom services jointly with Sierratel and managing the international gateway. The gateway account Elzein said were managed jointly by the two institutions and agreed that there were financial transactions in the gateway account. Teltac he said transfers money to the gateway account. He added that jointly Teltac and Sierratel transfers money from the gateway account to cover expenses relating to operators (Africell, Airtel, Millicom, Comium), gateway bandwidth, NATCOM, GoSL, MDIC, Sierratel, equipment, fuel and power services amongst others. The witness went on to state that since the gateway was managed by them from 2007 till mid-2016, he cannot as an accountant ascertain who was monitoring both Sierratel and Teltac to determine that the bills are accurate. It could be recalled that during the testimony of the former Director General (DG) of NATCOM Mohamed Bangura on issues relating to the IGW on Monday 29 July, 2019, he said that in 2011 the government subcontracted the management of Sierratel to another company called Management Development International Company (MDIC). The Managing Director of MDIC effectively became the new MD for Sierratel Adel Taher having taken over from Alpha Sesay.
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque
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