By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe on Monday held a workshop with a view to finding ways on how tax authorities can make policy changes in order to make mobile and broadband data connectivity affordable to achieve SDGs.
The one-day all-stakeholder workshop was attended by officials from International Telecommunication Union, which is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, GSMA, a global organisation unifying mobile ecosystem to discover, develop and deliver innovation that helps business and society thrive and POTRAZ.
Hilda Mutseyekwa of POTRAZ said the workshop was meant to come up with recommendations to policy makers and Zimra regarding what needs to be done to make telecommunication services affordable.
“We are taking this workshop seriously as we are discussing issues to do with service affordability and also connectivity. We are discussing the computation of mobile index and on that we are hoping to use that tool to be able to make decisions for tax authorities to consider changes in taxation which will be beneficial to the country in terms of attaining the SGs as well as digital transformation,” Mutseyekwa said.
Investment in ICTs in Zimbabwe has largely been hampered by high tax.
ITU representative Ms Chali Tumelo said a 1 % increase in coverage translates to 0.4 reduction in mobile services cost as more people will be covered and can access telephone services.
She said a 1 % increase in broadband penetration leads to GDP per capita increase of 0.5 %.
She said the implications of the imposition of regulatory fees, profit taxes and excise taxes seem to restrict capital investment and indirectly affect coverage, prices and adoption.
“Taxes on mobile services increase end-user prices. The imposition of import duties for equipment and smartphones limit investment and adoption levels, respectively,” she said.
Currently Zimbabwe is 10 points ahead of other countries in terms of mobile broadband costs followed by Congo Brazzaville.
About Author
