MTN, the telecommunications giant, has urged for a rethinking of the country’s tax system to enable for additional investment in crucial mobile telephony infrastructure.
Stephen Blewett, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, spoke at the first 3i Africa Summit in Accra, highlighting the impact of high taxes on the mobile business and urging politicians to review the sector’s tax levels.
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“Taxes take about 30 per cent of the revenues in the industry and are a major barrier to critical infrastructure and other investments,” he stated. Mr Blewett said without the appropriate fiscal incentives, the funding needed to modernise and expand digital infrastructure into higher technologies such as the five generation (5G) which made services more affordable and accessible to mobile internet would not materialise.
“We must not sacrifice long-term growth for short-term gains,” the MTN CEO, who assumed office on April 1, this year said.
Summit
The summit, themed “Unleashing Africa’s Fintech and Digital Economic Potential,” brought together leaders, policymakers, regulators, innovators, and change makers from across Africa to provide an important platform for fostering collaboration, driving innovation, and building momentum to transform the continent.
MTN Ghana and MobileMoney Ltd sponsored the three-day summit, which was organized in collaboration between the Bank of Ghana, the Development Bank of Ghana, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Mr Blewett stated that the success of services like MTN’s Mobile Money, as well as Vodafone and Safaricom’s M-pesa, demonstrated fintech’s capacity to change business on the continent and offer millions of people with access to crucial financial services.
Right balance
MTN Ghana’s CEO, who has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications business, believes politicians and regulators must find the appropriate balance between investment, innovation, and revenue generation.
