400 Million USD of Sub-Saharan Africa's Universal Service Funds Have Yet to be Dispersed; Surtax on International Incoming Traffic Found to Distort Price Competition and Negatively Impact Businesses and Consumers
London: The GSMA today called upon governments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to review their approach to the increasing tax burden imposed on the mobile industry. The GSMA released two studies that explore various aspects of mobile-specific taxation in Africa and show that this burden is stifling economic growth in those countries that have introduced mobile-specific taxation. The first report, Surtax on International Incoming Traffic (SIIT) in Africa', examines the impact of SIIT in Sub-Saharan Africa and concludes that the introduction of SIIT can lead to less revenue for mobile operators and governments and higher prices for consumers. A second report, Sub-Saharan Africa Universal Service Fund (USF) Study', found that most of these funds are not succeeding in delivering their stated goal of widening access to telecommunication services and that alternative market-based solutions are more effective.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the fastest-growing region globally, with 328 million unique mobile subscribers and an annual growth rate of 18 per cent over the last five years. However, with subscriber penetration of just 37 per cent, there is clearly still huge potential for greater growth ahead, said Tom Phillips, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA. Beyond further adoption of basic voice services, the region is starting to see an explosion in the uptake of mobile data. However, a short-term focus by some countries on generating revenue through increasing the SIIT, combined with the continued imposition of USF levies despite accumulated funds that are not being effectively employed, will clearly have a negative impact on the domestic mobile sector and other businesses in the region.
Report Highlights Negative Economic Impact of SIIT in Africa
The report Surtax on International Incoming Traffic (SIIT) in Africa studies the effects of the SIIT in six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and on regional integration. The report's findings are in line with a recent publication from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)1 that shows that imposing higher charges for the termination of international inbound traffic suppresses demand. Similar to the GSMA's study, the OECD report concludes that those governments that impose higher termination charges do not see their revenues increase proportionately. The report outlines the impact for consumers, governments and businesses:
Consumers - SIIT effectively fixes prices for international traffic termination and in these countries where it is imposed, the SIIT has caused the price of terminating international incoming calls to increase by an average 97 per cent, with an increase of up to 247 per cent in Burundi;
Governments SIIT has already shown its potential to create economic losses to governments that impose it. The report estimates that, in the absence of the SIIT, mobile operators could have terminated an extra 1.2 billion international minutes and generating $86 million in revenues from June 2010 to March 2014, indicating that governments could have gained an extra $27.5 million across the period had the SIIT not been introduced; and
Businesses SIIT creates significant extra costs to African businesses that trade with, and therefore call, businesses in countries where the SIIT has been imposed, negatively affecting regional integration. Evidence from mobile operators indicates that nearly 40 per cent of all international incoming traffic is from countries in the region, and in some countries, such as Tanzania, over 50 per cent of calls originate within Africa.
USF Report Highlights Need For Alternative Methods to Achieve Universal Service
The Sub-Saharan Africa Universal Service Fund Study finds that USFs in the region do not appear to be the most appropriate mechanism for providing universal access and service, and to furthering social and economic improvement in a proactive, cost-effective and transparent manner. Generally, the report found significant deficiencies in fund structure, management and operation throughout the SSA region. The report concludes that consideration must be given to disbanding inactive funds and returning the remaining monies to the operators who paid the levies in the first place and, where this is not feasible, gradually reducing the levy collected for either inactive or low activity funds and gradually phasing out the funds. The study found that alternative approaches to achieving universal service, such as license obligations, are often more effective than USFs.
Both reports have identified countries within the region that have recognised the negative impact of both the SIIT and USFs on trade and regional integration. The two studies conclude that in light of these negative consequences, other governments should re-consider the SIIT and USF and assess the specific impact on their economies and on economic development for the region as a whole.
Mobile is an important contributor to the economy of Sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for more than six per cent of the region's GDP, more than any other comparable region globally, continued Phillips. As our research has shown, taxation as a proportion of the total cost of mobile ownership in the region is also higher than the global average, a factor that makes mobile services less affordable for end users. The SIIT is clearly being used as an opportunistic short-term revenue tool by some governments and, in reality, USFs have become an unnecessary levy on the telecommunications industry. We strongly feel that eliminating harmful mobile-specific taxation would benefit consumers, businesses and governments by encou
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
28/08/2025
IBC stand 5.F81
Wowza to Reveal Next-Gen Video Streaming Innovations at IBC 2025
Amsterdam, August 28, 2025 Wowza, a leader in video streaming infrastructur...
400 Million USD of Sub-Saharan Africa's Universal Service Funds Have Yet to be Dispersed; Surtax on International Incoming Traffic Found to Distort Price Competition and Negatively Impact Businesses and Consumers
