Taxation and the growth of mobile services in sub-Saharan Africa
"In ten short years, what was once an object of luxury and privilege, the mobile phone, has become a basic necessity in Africa."
- Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda
"We do not believe that taxation should be designed on the basis of short-term considerations – it should be designed on the basis of achieving the best long-term economic interests for the society and in a way that accelerates the extension of services to the poor. The indirect benefits to the economy of having affordable access to telecommunications services far outweigh any short-term benefit to the budget."
- Mohsen A. Khalil, Director, World Bank
 The mobile industry in sub-Saharan Africa has pledged to invest some $50 billion over the next five years to extend coverage to rural areas and roll out mobile broadband services. This represents about a five-fold average increase in annual investment since the beginning of the decade.
This private sector commitment is something of a windfall for governments. Not only will it achieve national connectivity goals and ICT application targets in a timeframe unimaginable only a few years ago but also it will produce substantial levels of tax income. This report estimates that between 2000 to 2012, for every dollar invested by the mobile industry, around $0.80 will be earned in tax revenues by governments. For the same period more than $70 billion in tax revenue will be generated by the mobile industry. But the potential tax revenues could be even greater.
President Kagame says mobile phones are no longer a luxury but a necessity for Africans. Yet the majority of African governments levy luxury taxes on air time, handsets and equipment. These taxes are borne by consumers and have a negative impact on affordability. They are also regressive in nature, penalising poorer sections of society.
This report demonstrates why governments can afford to tax mobile phones as a common good and not a luxury. By lowering and removing mobile specific taxes from the mobile sector, governments will see an incremental increase in tax receipts as millions more people will be able to afford to connect to and use mobile services.
The GSMA calls on governments to review their mobile sector taxation strategies in consultation with the industry and other experts with a view to implementing an optimal taxation regime.
The GSMA would like to thank the following companies for their outstanding support for this project: Ericsson, MTN, Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, Orange, Safaricom, Vodacom and Zain / Celtel.
Vitalis Olunga
Chair, GSM Africa
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Gabriel Solomon
Senior Vice President, GSMA
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An Executive Summary of the report (in English or French) and the Full Report (in English) can all be downloaded from this page. To download any of these documents, please enter your details below.
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