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Nigeria’s proposed 9% Communications Service Tax Bill has
been condemned by the Global System Mobile Association (GSMA), a global association of mobile operators.
It stated that the proposed law would adversely impact on the digital development of
Nigeria.
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The tax, when introduced, would be nine percent of the fees
payable for the service and will be borne by the customers. The extra tax would
be applied on voice calls, SMS, MMS, Data and Pay TV viewing, among other
services. Service providers would collect this tax from the subscribers and
remit to the Federal Inland Revenue Service on a monthly basis.
In its latest report on “High consumer taxes on mobile could
hold back Nigerian economic and digital development,” GSMA said that the tax
would negatively affect the mobile adoption of Nigerians.
“If mobile is going to reach its potential for development
in Nigeria, supportive policies that increase digital inclusion and drive even
greater growth are needed,” it said. “For these reasons the GSMA, along with other
industry organizations including ALTON, ATCON and NATCOMS, has rejected the
Nigerian government’s proposed ‘Communication Service Tax’ that would establish
a nine per cent tax on users of services such as SMS, voice calls, MMS and
data. By pushing up the cost to consumers, this tax will inevitably adversely
impact the adoption of mobile.”
Taxing electronic communication services, GSMA said, would
hit lower income consumers the hardest, making access to mobile even less of
possibile.
“It is these consumers and communities that stand to gain
the most from the social and economic inclusion that access to mobile
provides.”
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