ISPs look to extend their VAT exemption

ISPs look for another year of VAT exemption, citing unfair market practices by TE Data: The country’s private internet service providers are asking the ICT Ministry to go to bat for them with the Finance Ministry to extend their one-year exemption from the value-added tax (VAT) for a second fiscal year, Al Borsa reports. The companies say that they are already beholden to TE Data by paying it utilization fees on its infrastructure, which they are still trying to reduce. Representatives of Orange, Vodafone, and Etisalat say that they continue to incur losses year in and year out, in no small measure to TE Data’s monopoly of the market.