Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: The UAE's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) forecast that putting value added tax (VAT) into effect would not adversely impact on telecoms sector growth and consumers’ expenses, said Internet Development manager Abdulrahman Almarzouqi.
Telecommunications prices are decreasing gradually due to the offers launched by the service providers and severe competition in the market, Almarzouqi added.
There are more than 211,000 domain names that are registered under the (.ae) domain and most of them are having commercial business in the country.
Names which are registered under this domain increase between 10% and 15% on annual basis.
AlAlmarzouqi expected that registering under this domain will reach 20% after implementing the electronic trading licence.
The TRA noted previously that VAT will not be imposed on the international roaming services.
The TRA stated that VAT is applied on consuming or on the use of commodities and services, it is applied on sales places in the UAE, and telecoms sector is included among them.
The end user is the one who pays the tax, while businesses including telecom firms raise the tax.
Regarding prepaid services, VAT will be imposed by 5% when purchasing a new SIM as of 1 January 2018.
The UAE will start applying the VAT by 5% from 1 January 2018.
