The findings were from the GSMA and AHCIET respective reports Mobile Telephony and Taxation in Latin America and Taxation and Telecommunications in Latin America, both undertaken by Deloitte.
The GSMA’s study highlights that the mobile industry contributed an estimated $177bn to the economies of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay, representing 3.5% of the region’s GDP. The study also indicated, however, that some countries in the region suffer from high mobile-specific taxes which threaten the on-going development of the mobile industry and the take-up of innovative services.
“Higher taxes on the mobile industry hinder the adoption of new services, such as 3G mobile broadband and M2M services, and mobile usage generally,” argued Tom Philips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer, GSMA.
“Mobile is an important contributor to economic success and we have clearly seen that when countries have lowered mobile-specific taxes, it encourages greater usage, boosting economic contribution, consumer benefits and government tax receipts.”
According to the results of the 11-country AHCIET report, in addition to the GDP generated by consumer payments for information and communications technology (ICT) devices and services, ICT network operations generate expenditure within each Latin American economy, through operator investments and payments to the wider ecosystem. These activities create added value, contributing to a country’s GDP throughout the entire ecosystem.
“Taxes on the ICT industry act as barriers to connectivity and restricts investment, something which proves to be especially harmful for those on lower incomes,” said Pablo Bello, general secretary, AHCIET.
The reports point out that, in addition to the GDP contribution, people across Latin America enjoyed intangible benefits delivered through mobile connectivity and ICT initiatives for communications, education, health and social inclusion. Further, the GSMA study indicates that mobile operators across the nine countries studied in its report, employ more than 107,000 people, with approximately 890,000 people in employment across the wider mobile ecosystem in the region.
