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Home Internet bills to rise by up to Sh18,000 after tax

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Passing of the 15 percent internet tax and increase of tax on telephone services has hit mobile users hard. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Home internet subscribers will pay up to Sh18,000 more per annum to access fixed internet after telecom companies passed on to their customers taxes introduced in the Finance Act 2018.

The monthly cost of internet on Safaricom’s #ticker:SCOM Platinum and Platinum plus packages went up by Sh1,500 to Sh11,499 and Sh12,499 respectively. Its gold and gold plus packages increased by Sh700 to Sh5,699 and Sh6,699 per month respectively.

Zuku customers on the Sh3,500 package were slapped with a Sh499 increase to Sh3,999 per month. Those on the Sh4,198 package will now pay Sh4,598 while those on the Sh5,000 package will fork out Sh5,600 every month.

Passing of the 15 percent internet tax and increase of tax on telephone services has hit mobile users hard.

The taxes introduced in a memo sent to Parliament by President Uhuru Kenyatta are intended to plug a Sh20.2 billion budget hole. In addition to paying more for internet, subscribers will also pay more for calls. A ten-minute call on a Sh2 per minute tariff will now cost Sh23 instead of Sh20. This is after Safaricom on Wednesday increased cost of calls by 30 cents, and SMS by 10 cents.

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) data shows Safaricom recorded 9.1 billion minutes of calls originating from its network up from 8.4 billion minutes reported in the previous quarter. The operator recorded 34.6 billion minutes in for the full year from 35.6 billion minutes reported last year.

If the number of minutes on the network remains the same during the next financial year, the Treasury will earn about Sh10.38 billion from Safaricom’s voice traffic.

Cumulatively, Kenyans spent 44.0 billion minutes on calls in the 2017/2018 financial year from 37.7 billion minutes recorded in previous year representing a 16.7 percent growth in voice traffic.

According to the CA, the traditional mobile SMS service in Kenya has maintained an upward trend over the years regardless of stiff competition from over-the-top services such as WhatsApp.