Egypt mobile operators impose stamp duty on prepaid subscribers

Egypt’s three mobile giants [Etisalat, Vodafone and Mobinil] have decided to impose a monthly stamp duty worth LE0.51 and an annual duty worth LE6.10 per subscriber, Ahram's Arabic language portal reported on Thursday.

Effective Thursday, the duty will be deducted from prepaid mobile customers.

The stamp duty will not benefit the three mobile operators. Rather proceeds will go entirely to the government [Egyptian Tax authority], EFG-Hermes reported on Thursday.

In the past, Egypt’s mobile companies used to pay this duty instead of their subscribers.

Last year, the number of mobile phone subscriptions in Egypt rose 18 per cent to 83.43 million, shrugging off an economic crisis sparked by the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak, government figures showed on Thursday.

In December 2010, Egypt's three mobile operators had 70.66 million subscriptions.