| Nokia pushes for tax cuts | Send to a friend |
| Tuesday, 07 September 2010 22:14 |
 By Okuttah Mark, Citizen Correspondent, KampalaMobile handset manufacturer Nokia is lobbying East Africa member states to zero rate taxes on handsets as a means of boosting its sales and increasing penetration. Nokia East and Southern Africa General Manager Kenneth Oyolla, said the company is in talks with Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda to zero rate their taxes on handsets following a successful push in Kenya that has boosted sales. “We have witnessed the number of mobile handsets sold in the Kenya market shoot up 20 per cent and this can be attributed to the tax cut on handsets,” said Mr Oyolla. Nokia will also be focusing on empowering local software developers to come up with applications that can be uploaded and used within the region. The firm intends to start training software lecturers in local universities on how people can profit from internet applications. The 2009 Census results released last week indicate that 63.2 per cent households in Kenya at least own a mobile phone. Another report by Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida) indicates that the most significant barrier to phone ownership is the high cost usage fees. East Africa region which has more than 140 million people is among emerging markets that investors especially in telecoms are targeting. The mobile communications markets of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda, earned revenues of $2.62 billion in 2008 combined and are expected to deliver $8.99 billion in 2015, following the availability of cheaper handsets and network investments in this region, says a recent study compiled by Frost & Sullivan. “The key drivers in these markets include strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates, increasing demand for mobile money transfer services and declining handset costs”, said Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Jiaqi Sun. Currently, there are 37.6 million mobile subscribers in east Africa, at a penetration of 30.8 per cent. The total number of subscribers is expected to reach 99.5 million in 2015, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.9 per cent reports the study Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites           |
