Page 101 - SAMENA Trends - May 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Angola Picks Lebanese Group Africell as Fourth Telecoms Operator

Angola has awarded the license for its Angola is ranked 146 out of 180 countries 30 million people live in poverty, failing to
fourth telecoms network to Lebanese on Transparency International's corruption benefit from the flood of dollars from crude
group Africell, as sub-Saharan Africa's perceptions index. Most of the country's oil and diamonds.
second-biggest oil producer opens other
economic sectors to foreign competition.
Africell is already present in four African
countries -- Gambia, Democratic Republic
of Congo, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
Angola had awarded the license last year
to a domestic start-up called Telstar but
President Joao Lourenco annulled the
decision, saying the company failed to
meet the bidding requirements. Angola's
mobile phone market, with almost 14
million users, is currently dominated by
two privately held companies -- Unitel
and Movicel. A third operator, Angola
Telecom, offers fixed and internet access
but no mobile services. Isabel dos Santos,
daughter of former President Jose
Eduardo dos Santos, owns half of Unitel's
share capital. She was recently indicted
for a host of high-level financial crimes.

Indonesia to Levy VAT on 'Digital Products and Services'

Reuters reports that the government of Indonesia plans to
charge a 10% value added tax on the sale of digital products and
services from 1 July 2020. Southeast Asia’s largest economy
will reportedly impose the levy on digital products sold by non-
domiciled internet companies ‘with a significant presence in the
Indonesian market, including streaming services, applications
and digital games’, according to a regulation published on the
finance ministry’s website. The Ministry of Communication and
Information (MCI) is amongst those to have previously said that
over-the-top (OTT) services provided by streaming platforms
such as Spotify and Netflix would be among those subject to the
new VAT. Neither company responded to requests for comment.

Zim Cellcos Get Temporary Spectrum to Boost Data Services

The Postal and Telecommunication The regulator says operators will be still keep data prices within its guidelines.
Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe assigned additional 3G and 4G spectrum Zimbabwe has been hit by soaring inflation
(POTRAZ) has allocated the country’s until December to enable them to improve and devaluation of the local currency
three mobile network operators – Econet, their data offerings. Cellcos were heavily against the US dollar. According to
NetOne and Telecel – free wireless criticized recently for implementing TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database,
spectrum until the end of the year in order sharp hikes to their mobile data pricing, the country was home to 13.2 million
to help them cope with increased demand with tariffs up by as much as 225% at active mobile subscribers at the end of
for bandwidth during the COVID-19 crisis. Econet, though POTRAZ says the rises 2019, up from 12.9 million a year earlier.

101 MAY 2020