Gov't officials meet with three telecom operators

The 6% tax paid by mobile telecom operators could be abolished before this summer if those operators meet the government's request to increase investments in development, which particularly refers to the allocation of the digital dividend or the radio spectrum released by a switch from analog to digital television, for which an international tender or auction is likely to be organised before this summer.

This was stated after a meeting on investment in the electronic communications sector, held at the Economy Ministry in Zagreb on Monday and attended by government officials, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Radimir Čačić, Finance Minister Slavko Linić and Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Zlatko Komadina and Minister of Construction and Physical Planning, representatives of three mobile operators, Croatian Telecom (HT) CEO Ivica Mudrinić, Vipnet Croatia CEO Mladen Pejnović and Tele2 Croatia CEO Julian ogrin and representatives of the Croatian Post and Electronic Communications Agency (HAKOM).

The purpose of the meeting was to establish how much mobile operators to which the six-percent tax refers can continue investing in light of that tax, and which barriers should be removed to facilitate their investments, said the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Zlatko Komadina.

He went on to say that an auction or a tender would be announced for the allocation of radio frequencies from the digital dividend, adding that mobile operators were interested in it even though that spectrum was partly 'polluted' by analog signals from neighbouring countries.

Finance Minister Slavko Linić said after the meeting that there was a chance in the next three months for the government and the operators to agree on possible investments in new technologies and on the removal of barriers to that kind of investment.

More will be known by May this year, including whether the law imposing the said tax on mobile operators would remain in force, Linić said.

For now, that tax is to remain in force until the end of June 2013.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Radimir Čačić said the meeting did not address the specifics of investments in the optical telecom network but the situation in general.

Croatian Telecom (HT) CEO Ivica Mudrinić addressed reporters on behalf of his company and the other two mobile operators attending the talks, Vipnet and Tele2 Croatia, saying that participants in the talks underlined the importance of keeping up the operators' current pace of investment and the consequent need to abolish the 6-percent tax.

Mudrinić said it was agreed that in the next three months the operators would prepare their investment plans and activities, while the government and HAKOM would carry out preparations for a tender or an auction for the allocation of the radio spectrum.

Licences for the radio spectrum, including possible licences for the fourth generation of mobile communications 4G or LTE technology, would make it possible for the state to collect, already this year, and from all three operators, a one-off amount of at least 300 million kuna, which is roughly the annual amount of budget revenues from the six-percent tax on mobile telecom services, said Mudrinic.

Asked if that tax and taxes in general would lead to an increase in mobile telecom services if the VAT rate was increased to 25 percent as planned, Mudrinic said that it would not, because prices were determined by the market and that the burden of the 6-percent tax had not been felt so far by users of mobile telecom services, but by the operators.


(Hina)