The Global System for Mobile Association (GSMA) has led a
joint petition with the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria
(ALTON), the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) and National
Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS) against the proposed 9 per cent Communication Services Tax to be levied on charges payable by end-users of an electronic communication services in Nigeria, reports ITRealms.
Whereas GSMA is the industry association for mobile
operators worldwide; ALTON, is for mobile operators of Nigeria; ATCON is for
other associated telecom companies, and NATCOMS represents telecom consumers;
jointly expressed dismay regarding the proposal, under consideration by the
National Assembly, to establish a 9 per cent Communication Service Tax to be
levied on charges payable by a user of an electronic communication service, for
instance on Short Messaging Service (SMS), voice calls, MMS, data usage among
others supplied by service providers.
In a strongly worded petition entitled ‘Objection to the Proposed Bill for the
Establishment of a Tax on Electronic
Communication Services in Nigeria’ addressed to the duo of Nigerian Finance
Minister, Mrs Kemi Adeosun and her counterpart in Communications, Barr. Adebayo
Shittu, the four telecommunications interest groups jointly rejected the
proposed plan by the government to tax electronic communication services in the
country.
A copy of the petition obtained by ITRealms, revealed that
Mortimer Hope, Director Africa of GSMA, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of
ALTON, Engr. Lanre Ajayi, President of ATCON and Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, the
national president of NATCOMS signed for their respective organisations.
ITRealms also reported that the petition which was copied to the Executive Vice Chairman,
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Senate
President, Dr. Olubukola Saraki and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Hon.
Dogara Yakubu among others, insisted that if this tax proposal is accomplished,
it will not only increase prices for consumers, but stifles further investment
in a market already battling multiple taxation.
“If introduced, such tax will result in an increase in
prices for consumers, have adverse impacts on the adoption of mobile services
and industry investment, and be counter-productive to the longer term national
digital strategy objectives set by the Government of Nigeria,” the groups said.
According them, the bill tends to increase affordability
barriers to the uptake of mobile services in the country.
They quoted a recent World Bank report which showed that a
10 per cent increase in mobile broadband penetration in low to middle income
countries leads to a 1.38 per cent increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
growth.
They also pointed out that as at March 30, 2016,
Nigeria has 83 million people with access to mobile services, lamenting that
over half of the population are still without a mobile connection, while
affordability remains a key challenge to connect the unconnected, who are
typically lower income population groups.
“Further taxation on electronic communication services will
hit lower income consumers the most, who are already struggling due to the
adverse economic situation and increased price pressure and for whom affordable
access to information and communication technology is critical to their social
and economic inclusion," the petitioners lamented, stressing that this
will result in a double taxation for consumers who already pay Value Added
Taxes (VAT) on telecommunications services.
The quadruple interest group argued that the proposal would
also further increase the administrative cost burden on service providers to
comply with numerous and complex tax regulations, already high compared to
other countries of the world.
They, therefore, requested of both Ministers to urgently
intervene to prevent the adoption of a new tax on electronic communications
services to ensure that digital economy delivers its full potential in Nigeria
and for Nigerians.
No comments:
Post a Comment