Africa-Press – Tanzania. MOBILE phone operators have lauded the government’s recent move to revisit the newly introduced mobile money levy, saying the decision will build more confidence in investors and attract new projects in the telecoms industry.
The government has introduced new mobile levy in the current financial year, where charges in mobile transactions have increased, attracting public outcry. However, the government listened to public concerns and promised to work on the matter.
Speaking to journalists here, Chairman of the Tanzania Mobile Network Operators Association (TAMNOA), Mr Hisham Hendi, who is also the CEO of Vodacom Tanzania Plc, said millions of customers had stopped using their services, especially those in rural areas, due to rising costs which threatened their businesses.
“For the past few days since the law became effective on July 15, consumerrelated activities decreased by more than 45 per cent, which in turn has adversely crippled our revenues across the mobile phones business as well as drop in contribution to income tax to the government,” he said, adding: “We sincerely appreciate what the government has done so far and we particularly salute President Samia Suluhu Hassan and the entire government for responding to the public outcry”.
In the course, the Prime Minister Mr Kassim Majaliwa convened a meeting of top government officials to deliberate on the hotly contested issue, which has caused huge public outcry and come up with recommendations on the way forward.
The team is supposed to consult with telecommunications companies as well as the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) by looking at several scenarios related to the mobile money taxes before coming up with recommendations.
According to the Treasury Permanent Secretary, Mr Emmanuel Tutuba, the team drew expert from the Central Bank, Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), Ministry of Finance and Planning and the Communications Technology Ministry.
The team is supposed to submit its recommendations on July 29, this year. However, Mr Hendi was optimistic that the findings of the team would enable the government achieve its goal of raising more taxes to finance various development projects, and ensure mobile network operators also survive in the tough market. He said the country has of late experienced an economic boom in Africa, thanks to huge investments in the mobile phone sector, which in turn has contributed in pushing forward the social and economic value.
According to the latest research findings by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) released in March this year, affordable mobile sector specific taxes could improve digital inclusion and boost agriculture and health.
In an effort to raise revenue by Sh1.254 trillion budget for the 2021/2022 financial year, the government last month amended the Electronic and Postal Communication Act (CAP 306) by imposing a levy of between 10/- and 10, 000/- on mobile money transactions, depending on the amount sent or withdrawn.
A calculation of the charges indicate that sending 1m/- to someone and having the money withdrawn will cost a total of 31, 000/- if all the current and new charges are added up. Majority of Tanzanians are of the view that the amount being deducted was just too high for them to carry and that it was going against the country’s financial inclusion agenda, and also not seeing the role the mobile phone cash transfers has played on the economy.
The Minister for Finance, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba, said last week that the public outcry had also caught the President’s attention. Dr Nchemba said since the levy had become legally binding, still his ministry and that responsible for ICT will work on the matter by looking at regulations in a bid to bring relief to the users.
