Kenyans will from today start paying more for Safaricom voice calls and data. Safaricom in a statement sent out yesterday said this was as a result of the increased taxes passed in the Finance Act 2018.
With this new review, Safaricom says its headline price for voice calls and data will now increase by 30 cents and SMS by 10 cents.
The Finance Act 2018 proposed that telephone and internet data services be charged excise duty at a rate of 15 percent of their excisable value. Previously, excise duty on these services stood at 10 percent
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‘’While we remain committed to delivering great value to Kenyans, recent changes to taxes affecting our services were passed through the Finance Act 2018. In particular, the Excise Duty tax applicable on Voice, SMS and Data services was increased from 10% to 15%. This is in addition to the prevailing Value Added Tax applicable to mobile services at the rate of 16%’’ Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said in the statement.
Additionally, Safaricom also says it has also reviewed its prices for mobile data bundles, Fibre-To-The-Building (FTTB) and Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) to effect the new 15% Excise Duty tax on internet services.
‘’We are aware of and regret the impact these additional taxes on our customers’’. The company said in the statement adding that ‘’ it is our sincere hope that these changes will not affect the remarkable gains we have made in mobile phone and internet penetration in Kenya over the last two decades.’’
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