AfricaPress-Tanzania: VODACOM Tanzania has invested over 1.6tri/-from 2012 to-date putting it at the front seat of development and innovations in mobile services in the country.
The investment made the largest telecom one of the major taxpayers after paying about 1.9tri/-various taxes to the government in the past five years.
A partner with Auditax International, Mr Shabu Maurus made the remarks in an analysis of Vodacom Tanzania’s contribution in terms of taxes and fees as well as other charges and how they translate into public goods and services.
During the period under review, Vodacom grew at an impressive average rate of 8 per cent to record annual total tax contribution of 435bn/-in 2020.
Some of the taxes that Vodacom is obliged to pay like other mobile operators include taxes and fees are payable to Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), Local Government Authorities (LGAs), regulators, social security funds and telecom fund.
For example of the most familiar taxes payable to TRA are VAT, Corporate Income Tax (CIT), Excise Duty, Import Duty, Service Levy, Property tax, Advertisement tax, Stamp duty, Skills and Development Levy (SDL), Gaming tax, Withholding tax (WHT) and PAYE.
There are also contributions both to the Workers Compensation Fund (WCF) and to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF). The business license fee and service levy which are payable to the LGAs.
The regulatory fees and taxes are namely the universal service levy to the Universal Communications Services Access Fund (UCSAF) and regulatory fee (royalty), numbering fee, license fee and frequency fees are paid to TCRA.
In addition, License fees such as the e-payment system and the e-money issuer from the central bank (BOT) and different business License fees from LGAs.
Apart from paying various taxes, the telecom company has contributed immensely into job creation to over 550 employees and more than 100,000 Wakala’s countrywide.
The telecom firm has been supporting growth of local business through purchase of local goods and services which have contributing to real value creation in Tanzania.
According to latest data from the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) shows that having over 15 million subscribers, Vodacom boasts a 32 percent market share. M-Pesa, Vodacom’s mobile money product is also a leading brand with mobile money customer market share of 39.3 percent.
TCRA statistics indicate further that as of March 2020 there are seven mobile operators in Tanzania which together serving over 48 million mobile subscribers.
During the period under review, Vodacom became the only mobile operator to comply with the Tanzania’s Electronic and Postal Communications Act No. 3/2010, requiring domestic telecoms companies to issue at least 25 per cent of their shares on either the Dar es Salaam stock Market (DSE).
As a result of the listing more than 40,000 Tanzanians were allowed to own shares in the telecom giant and share in the profits. The listing also provides the much-needed transparency, both in terms of business and taxes.
