GBC engages agents to collect TV licence fees
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) has engaged the services of agents to move to homes across the country to collect TV licence fees.
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The effort falls under the second phase of the TV licence project, which now includes a collection manual to guide both collectors and payers.
The agents would be given a registration identification for all transactions under the project.
With the new phase, customers can also confirm the credibility of the agents by dialing *488*1# to confirm their identity, verify voucher numbers and identify invalid vouchers.
Education
Educating partner banks in the new phase of the project in Accra last Friday, the Head of TV Licence Unit of GBC, Rev. Ebenezer Botwi, encouraged the banks to live up to expectation under the new phase since they lagged behind in the first phase of the project, saying they turned customers away when they went to pay their TV licences fees.
“The banks have not been supportive with the first phase, because people walked into their banks to pay and they turned them away. We have trained them about twice and if they still need more we are ready to do it,” he said.
Agents
The agents, Rev. Botwi said, would record payments with manual value books, which had specific security codes on the leaflets.
He stated that the agents would be required to load their wallets at any of the GBC TV licence partner banks or pay points before their wallets would be activated for business.
“These deposits shall be made through the current E-Transact and Input Tax Credit (ITC) setups for the TV licence. One can also pay their fees by dialing *178*28# on all networks and following the procedure,” he added.
Previous challenges
Rev. Botwi identified that most Ghanaians were reluctant to pay the TV licence fee in the first phase of the project, hence the need to go to them for it.
“GBC is moving to the second phase of the project of collecting TV licence using manual agents. We are mindful of the security of people in their homes, so we are putting in a lot of measures, including public awareness and engaging with the banks to tell them what we have put in place. “Very soon we will start our education with the public to know who to pay TV licence fees to and who not to pay to, as well as what to check,” he added.
