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Digital inclusion and mobile sector taxation
Taxes and fees on each mobile connection cost US$ 35.6
on average per year across 26 selected countries
The implications for mobile users can be gauged by comparing total tax payments from the industry
to the size of the market in terms of active connections. A high tax cost per connection could have
adverse effects, holding back the adoption of new technologies and the extension of mobile services
to the next 4 billion people in the world that remain unconnected.
This review estimates the value of mobile tax
payments per mobile connection across the panel of
26 countries and finds that:
• On average, the cost per connection accounted for
by tax payments was about US$ 35.6, and ranges
from US$ 7.5 in Sri Lanka to US$ 100.9 in Jamaica.
• Seven out of the 10 countries with the highest
payments per connection are also among the
20 highest taxed countries in terms of consumer
taxation as a proportion of TCMO (Please refer to
results and definitions on page 11).
• Whilst countries with low Average Revenue
per User (ARPU) levels, such as Pakistan and
Bangladesh, have lower tax payments per
connection, the effective tax paid is very high
as a proportion of revenues, 36.9% and 45.2%
respectively.
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