Afghanistan’s Ten Percent Tax: An Unfair Burden In Absence Of A Competitive Telecommunication Sector – OpEd
Published by Eurasia The imposition of a 10 percent tax on mobile subscribers has been unfair for the people who have to incur extra charges while Afghan government, as regulator, has failed to ensure provisions of quality telecom services at reasonable costs which could be achieved through adopting and enforcing a set of vigorous rules and regulations to facilitate free and fair competition among telecom companies. Even though Article two of the Telecommunication Law of Afghanistan sets clear rules on quality of services and avoiding monopoly by the telecom companies at any time through ensuring free and fair competition, in practice not only is quality not being ensured, but the telecom companies are also deliberately exercising a monopoly over the market. Lack of a mobile number portability option is one of the main factors that has given leverage to the telecom companies to monopolize their existent customers by limiting their choice and ability to switch their service from t...