Why are the Ministries of Telecom and Finance throwing our money down the drain?
BY: Andrew K. Deng, JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN AUG. 16/2011, SSN; Telecommunications is a very important sector. It contributes tremendously to a country’s economic overall growth, in fact a number of studies conducted over the years have proven that capital investment in Telecom/ICT has a much superior impact on enhancing national economic growth compared to non-telecom capital investment. A 1 % of total national investment will contribute more than 5 % increase in the GDP. ROSS relies heavily on Oil. The oil sector generates revenues between 2-3 Billion US dollars annually, which makes up 71 % of the total income of the government. Due to fluctuations in oil prices, uncertainty and unpredictability of the government in North Sudan, there is a need to diversify from over reliance on Oil. One of the non oil sectors that can significantly contribute to the national coffers is Telecommunications. Telecommunications sector encompasses Mobile phones, Fixed Telephones, Internet, Satellite and Computing both Software and Hardware. This sector has a potential to contribute more than 3 billion SSP annually if there is a will and sense of urgency on the side of the decision makers. Both Ministries of Telecommunications and Finance have totally failed the country in not taking advantage of this revenue generating sector, due to ignorance, apathy and corruption. Currently there are 5 Mobile phone companies operating in South Sudan, whose total subscribers base is estimated to be between 1.5 to 2 million. This is a potentially huge income generator for the government. There is talk amongst the mobile phone companies in South Sudan that South Sudanese love to talk a lot on the phone and this directly translate to money for them. South Sudanese (who love to talk on the phone) would spend on average about 40 SSP per month. This translates to about 80 million SSP per month or almost 1billion SSP annually. The current tax being imposed by the Government in North Sudan is about 30 %, so if the same tax is imposed this will translate to about 300 million SSP. This is apart from the corporate tax that companies pay annually. There is also license fees that mobile companies pay. Gemtel and Vivacell have not paid any license fees so far. The current price of Mobile Telephone license is in excess of 100 Million SSP. This is apart from fees that each operator pays for usage of Frequency spectrum which is an additional 50 million SSP annually. Auctioning 3G and 4G licenses is another source of wealth for the new nation. The price of 3G and 4G licenses are in excess of 20 million SSP. So far no 3G license has been auctioned in South Sudan, though there are operators who claim to be 3G ready. Selling of TV and FM /AM radio license and annual charges for the use of frequencies is another source of revenue for the government. In Kenya and Uganda these amount to more than USD 100 million annually. There are more than 5000 VSAT (satellite dishes) in South Sudan and most of these companies get their services through neighboring East African countries or Europe. This is a huge loss in potential tax revenues for ROSS because all these companies pay taxes (VAT) to the countries they are getting service from instead of ROSS. So we are potentially losing revenues worth more than 50 million SSP annually. South Sudan is the only country in the world where any Tom, Dick and Harry can come and set up shop and provide internet services using WIMAX technology without paying a single cent! Currently in South Sudan there are more than 15 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operating without license. A WIMAX license costs at least 10 million SSP, so we have potentially lost 150 million SSP due to the inability or unwillingness of the Ministry of Telecommunications in doing their job. Some of the companies providing WIMAX services in Juba are Gemtel, RCS, NOW, Vivacell, Karibu and Bilpham. Recently ROSS was assigned .SS domain as the Internet Country domain; this is also a potential money generator for the nascent nation. The government can start selling domain names to interested parties for a fee. This is well known world over. By not taking advantage of the riches we have, the Ministries of Telecom and Finance are literally throwing money down the drain. We have potential revenue of about 3 billion SSP which can be easily added to the coffers of the new nation. This 3 Billion SSP can do a lot to provide desperately needed services that will alleviate the suffering of our people. Andrew K Deng; Juba South Sudan COMMENTS, PLEASE CLICK HERE Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author(s) and do not represent those of the website. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
