By Alan Clement
Lawmakers have deferred debate on a telecom malpractice report after revelations that nearly half of South Sudan’s international gateway revenues remain unaccounted for, raising fears of entrenched leakage and lost billions.
The decision followed the presentation of a Select Committee report on malpractices within telecommunication network companies, which disclosed that 40 percent of revenues generated through the international gateway managed by MGI Telecom Ltd. are not remitted to the South Sudan Revenue Authority (SSRA).
The committee findings dominated deliberations in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly during its 23rd ordinary sitting on Tuesday December 13th, 2025, with lawmakers demanding clarity on where the money has gone and how long the leakage has persisted.
The Select Committee, chaired by Mary Nyaulang Ret, was mandated to investigate alleged malpractices by MTN, Zain and Digitel, alongside oversight bodies including the Ministry of Information, Communication and Postal Services, the National Communication Authority (NCA) and the SSRA.
Its work focused on revenue collection, licensing arrangements, consumer protection and compliance with national laws governing the telecommunications sector.
In its findings, the committee concluded that since independence, South Sudan’s telecommunications sector has suffered from weak oversight, opaque contractual arrangements and poorly implemented revenue-collection systems, undermining government earnings from one of the country’s most lucrative industries.
Central to the report is the government’s lack of direct control over the international gateway, which the committee said has constrained the state’s ability to regulate traffic and capture full revenues from international calls and data services.
“Consequently, 40 percent of the revenue generated from its management by MGI Telecom Ltd. is not remitted to the South Sudan Revenue Authority,” the report stated.
During debate, lawmakers repeatedly returned to the missing revenues highlighted in the findings with MP Peter Lomude Francis, representing Yei County, stressing that Parliament could not move forward without establishing where the funds were being diverted.
“The Committee on Public Accounts and Finance must tell us where this 40 percent is going,” he told the House adding, “Without clear figures, we cannot measure the true scale of the losses or enforce accountability.”
Several MPs linked the problem to the long-term contractual arrangement with MGI Telecom, warning that it effectively locks South Sudan out of full control over a strategic national asset.
Lawmakers stressed that the international gateway is not only a revenue source but also a matter of national sovereignty and security.
“You cannot keep 40 percent of the gateway run by outsiders,” one MP argued, noting that gateway management directly affects national identity, security and revenue collection.
Beyond the gateway issue, the report documented a range of structural and regulatory weaknesses. It found that MTN, Zain and Digitel operate with significant numbers of unregistered SIM cards, raising serious national security concerns.
The committee also cited practices such as internet bundles expiring even when unused, saying they lack legal justification and have been outlawed in several jurisdictions.
Mobile money services was also another major concern that emerged during the deliberations of the report.
According to the report, revenues generated through MTN MoMo, Zain M-Gurush and Digitel Digicash are not transparently taxed due to the absence of systems that provide visibility into total transaction volumes.
Lawmakers warned that this gap exposes the government to significant revenue losses as mobile money usage expands nationwide.
Lawmaker Theresa Chol raised the issue of consumer protection during the debate complaining that MTN’s MoMo service frequently fail to allow withdrawals despite public advertising.
“You can deposit your money, but when you want to withdraw, there is no money,” she said adding, “Citizens are being misled and left stranded.”
Other MPs cited high tariffs, unexplained airtime deductions and unreliable networks, arguing that subscribers are paying excessive charges while service quality continues to deteriorate.
A major point of contention was the absence of quantitative financial data in the summary report presented to the House. Lawmakers said key recommendations such as tax exemptions, license renewals and policy reforms could not be properly assessed without knowing their fiscal implications.
“Exemptions are money,” one MP said who added, “If you are giving five years of tax exemption, how much revenue is the government losing? We need the figures.”
Several members demanded access to the full 73-page report, which contains detailed financial data not included in the summary.
The committee also raised institutional concerns, criticizing the National Communication Authority for lacking modern monitoring and regulatory systems. It warned that the outsourced electronic revenue collection system used by the SSRA is excessively costly and undermines basic principles of efficient taxation.
Among its recommendations were increased funding for oversight institutions, modernization of regulatory tools and the introduction of a Fintech Tax Compliance System to monitor mobile money revenues.
Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba ultimately ruled that debate be deferred to allow members time to study the complete report. She also questioned the rationale for continued government subsidies and exemptions for telecom operators.
“Giving them hard currency at a lower rate means the government is subsidizing the tariffs, yet the citizens are still crying,” she said.
“Exemptions are a form of subsidy, but tariffs remain high,” she added.
Deputy Minister of Information, Communication, Technology and Postal Services David Yau Yau supported the deferral, saying the issues raised were complex and required the involvement of the Ministry of Finance, SSRA and NCA to explain revenue flows and financial arrangements.
“We are not here to defend ourselves, but to seek the truth,” he told lawmakers, citing unresolved arrears left by former operators such as Vivacell as evidence of long-standing weaknesses in sector oversight.
South Sudan’s telecommunications sector has been dominated by foreign-owned operators since independence in 2011, with limited state participation and weak regulatory enforcement.
The Select Committee concluded that the absence of a government-owned national operator and effective monitoring mechanisms has left the sector vulnerable to revenue leakage, consumer exploitation and governance failures.
Parliament is expected to return to the report after recess, with lawmakers insisting that transparency over gateway revenues and access to complete financial data must precede any adoption of its recommendations.
For many MPs, the missing 40 percent has become emblematic of the broader struggle to secure national resources and enforce accountability in South Sudan’s fragile economy.