Low call rates won’t hurt gov’t revenue-RURA

As mobile operators continue to slash call tarrifs, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency’s (RURA) says it expects telecom firms to continue generating high revenues and boost the government taxable income. The Director General of RURA, Regis Gatarayiha, told Business Times that the combined total revenues (from the three mobile operators) have been consistently increasing every year. “This means that the consolidated government’s revenue increases with the increase of combined operators’ revenues,” Gatarayiha said. He added that it is in the regulator’s view that low calling tariffs translate into affordability to end users, which consequently leads to more subscriptions and usage.“The higher the combination of subscription and usage, the higher the revenues and therefore the higher the tax collected by the government,” he said. Officials at the regulatory body also revealed that all operators are now preparing all necessary requirements to start the SIM Card registration process. “We will be announcing a clear timeline soon after we agree on the approach to be adopted by all operators in order to complete this exercise before the end of this year,” officials said. Last year, RURA had announced that it would be issuing out a fourth mobile license but the body has delayed the move. Gatarayiha said that the decision to license a fourth operator in this market would be a result of ongoing discussions with relevant stakeholders because it has to be in line with other national policies and objectives. The decision has not been made yet as RURA continues to watch the telecom market performance in terms of subscriber growth as well as market share distribution between licensed operators. Ends

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Low call rates won’t hurt gov’t revenue-RURA