Rt. Hon.(Eng) Raila Amolo Odinga

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 701 to 710 of 1732.

• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to reply. (a)Consumers pay Valued Added Tax (VAT) and Excise Duty on airtime. Telephone companies pay Corporation Tax. The mobile telephone sector in Kenya has generated tax revenues of Kshs99.2 billion in the period between financial years 2005/2006 and 2009/2010. Safaricom accounts for 48 per cent; Bharti Airtel, 46.8 per cent; Telcom Kenya, 7.2 per cent, and YU, 0.1 per cent of the total revenues. I table a report by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on Mobile Telephone Sector Analysis, which breaks down the tax contributions by each mobile telephone company between financial years ... view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the amount of VAT and Excise Duty on airtime payable by each mobile telephone company is dependent on their subscriber bases and degree of usage. The amount of Corporation Tax payable is dependent on profitability. A combination of high debt financing with capitalization and high capital deductions have yielded losses and low Corporation Tax. view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: Subscribers as at December, 2010 were spread across networks as follows: Safaricom, 15.7 million; Bharti Airtel, 1.9 million; Essar YU, 1.36 million, and Telecom GSM, 832,000. view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: The tariff war amongst the providers is, therefore, intended at defending territory on the one hand for Safaricom and to expand territory on the other hand for its competitors. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, according to the KRA, VAT and Excise Tax on airtime collection declined by 37 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively in the fourth quarter of financial year 2009/2010 as compared with the third quarter of the same year. This trend could translate into reduction of up to Kshs5 billion in tax revenue by the end of financial year 2010/2011. Recent trends indicate a growth of 2.8 ... view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: (b) The tariff wars are a function of a free and competitive market. The shareholder value in Safaricom is a function of the efficiency, innovation, visionary leadership and high quality customer service. The Government cannot, therefore, interfere in these areas. view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: (c) Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a commercial matter for Safaricom to decide. The Government, under Vision 2030, intends to make Kenya an attractive and competitive destination for BPO. Business Process Outsourcing does not always result in job losses as it may include the transfer of both the service and workforce to third parties. view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: The Government has established an inter-Ministerial Committee, chaired by the Ministry of Finance, to deal with this matter. The Committee will analyse the impact of lower tariffs on the economy, the cost of doing business, attractiveness to BPO, increased penetration, affordability, et cetera . view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in order to safeguard revenue collection, the Government is considering adopting tax measures which are not dependent on mobile telephone tariffs as these are subject to unilateral changes by telephone operators. view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. view
• 16 Feb 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will take one question at a time. I agree with the hon. Member that there can sometimes be negative competition. In other words, companies can actually compete themselves out of business. It is also accepted worldwide that competition is healthy. When we had a monopoly, the cost of telephone services was too high. Remember that at one time, just to get a telephone set cost as much as Kshs120,000. When the market was liberalized, the cost came down and it is now just about Kshs2,000 or less. So, the cost of communication needs to be ... view