MADRID: Spain’s three leading telecommunications operators – Telefonica, Orange and Vodafone – are set to form a common front to call on the country’s new Minister of Energy, Tourism and the Digital Agenda, Alvaro Nadal, to reduce a tax burden that no other sector has to support, reports El Pais. The operators will join equipment manufacturers and other companies in lending their support to an independent report by consultancy Arthur D. Little on the importance of the sector to the Spanish economy. According to the study, the telecom industry accounts for 2 percent of GDP and more than half a million jobs but is being placed under increasing fiscal pressure by local governments.
Specifically, the report points out that operators support 88 percent of the tax burden of the digital ecosystem, and face more than 20 unique rates, resulting in an annual payout of some EUR 830 million. The sector-specific taxation includes 0.9 percent of telecom operators’ gross revenues to finance state broadcaster RTVE and local taxes for rolling out fibre-optic cables even though increased private investment has led to Spain creating Europe’s largest fibre to the home (FTTH) network, with some 22.5 million installed accesses at the end of Q2, compared to just 1.6 million in 2012.
