Cameroon: New tax law on telephony and internet services

With the 2016 financial laws, mobile operators and Internet Service Providers in Cameroon will pay 2% of their turnover on their services to the state.

Cameroon has created a new tax on mobile phone calls and internet.

With the 2016 financial laws, mobile operators and Internet Service Providers will pay the state 2% of their turnover on calls and internet services.

The Cameroonian government intends to push a directive of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa(CEMAC) in this direction and also wishes to take advantage of the boom in mobile telephony to increase tax revenue.

The mobile penetration rate in Cameroon increased from 9.8% in 2004 to 71% in 2014, according to the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ART). This represents about 18 million subscribers, nearly 22 million people.

Since the introduction of mobile Internet and 3G dongles in Cameroon, the rate of Internet penetration has increased significantly. A report by the Alliance For Affordable Internet(A4AI) published in 2014, it was 25.6%. Far from countries like Rwanda with 51.6%, or 51.2% with Nigeria.

Over the period 2010 – 2014, all three mobile operators present in Cameroon, paid FCFA 617 billion of taxes. An amount that is going to experience a significant increase, with the new budget law.

Similar taxation on communications already exist in the tax system in some African countries. This is the case in Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Senegal and Ghana