Africa Online boss decries high operation fees

Speaking at the just concluded 8th Digital Africa Summit held in Kampala, Joseph Barungi, the general manager Africa Online Uganda, an ISP, said regulators on the continent are looking at the operators to raise short term funds by charging operators very high fees which limit the use and penetration of ICTs like the internet and mobile phones.

“If the spectrum fees are very high, then we shall not achieve the objective of pushing the internet into the hinterland,” Barungi told about 200 ICT experts and regulators from several African counties, who attended the annual summit, on 11 March.

Rapid, loose liberalisation policies

The governments were also cautioned on the rapid and loose liberalisation policies aimed at increasing competition to gain lower costs of communication services. “As much as we are liberalising, the process must be balanced, and focused on the overall objective which is to push communication and internet facilities into the hinterland, because this is what is going to drive the development of Africa,” Barungi explained.

To make the continent more attractive to global ICT investors, African governments were asked to offer incentives like tax breaks and lower taxes. “If the high taxes are not looked into then it is a very big challenge to push broadband into the hinterland. If you are investing a million dollars and then 60% of that is taxes, then it becomes very unprofitable and you get no return on investment,” Barungi said.