"Sometime in the next few months, the number of mobile phones in use will exceed 3.3 billion, or half the world's population. No technology has ever spread faster around the globe: the mobile phone took less than two decades to reach this degree of penetration. But the ever-restless wireless industry has already set its sights on getting the other half connected."
The article, in The Economist, May 31 2008, p. 78-80, goes on state that making handset ownership more affordable is the key. Handset costs are dropping, and innovations in infrastructure have helped lower costs, making it possible for operators to make a profit at low prices. However, governments add costs via taxation.
"This enthusiasm for taxation is easy to explain: governments have to tax something, and mobile phones are an easy target, since operators' billing systems do all the hard work. But treating mobile phones as a cash cow is shortsighted, says Gabriel Solomon of the GSMA, because mobile-specific taxes reduce demand. If governments did away with them and charged only VAT, tax revenues from the mobile industry would be around 3% higher by 2012, the report found, and the average penetration rate would increase from 33% to 41%. (Studies have found that in a typical developing country, an increase in mobile penetration of 10% boosts GDP growth by around one percentage point.)"
The article, in The Economist, May 31 2008, p. 78-80, goes on state that making handset ownership more affordable is the key. Handset costs are dropping, and innovations in infrastructure have helped lower costs, making it possible for operators to make a profit at low prices. However, governments add costs via taxation.
"This enthusiasm for taxation is easy to explain: governments have to tax something, and mobile phones are an easy target, since operators' billing systems do all the hard work. But treating mobile phones as a cash cow is shortsighted, says Gabriel Solomon of the GSMA, because mobile-specific taxes reduce demand. If governments did away with them and charged only VAT, tax revenues from the mobile industry would be around 3% higher by 2012, the report found, and the average penetration rate would increase from 33% to 41%. (Studies have found that in a typical developing country, an increase in mobile penetration of 10% boosts GDP growth by around one percentage point.)"
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