News
An intrinsic part of life
One of the sectors to be hit hardest by the Government’s move to impose the Value Added Tax (VAT) is the telecommunication sector. One of the sectors to be hit hardest by the Government’s move to impose the Value Added Tax (VAT) is the telecommunication sector.
Two worlds meet... the carter, his ancient ox-drawn cart on his mobile phone
Consumers started feeling the impact of the tax hike last month after seeing their mobile phone bills increase by several hundred rupees. Service providers, hit hard by having to pay a higher VAT in addition to other taxes, have now transferred the burden to the consumer.
A mobile phone is now an essential tool of communication in the day-to-day lives of the people. Mobile phones stopped being a ‘luxury item’ years ago. Today mobile phones at rates which are affordable to all sections of society are readily available.
Though consumers are doubtless feeling the pinch of the additional burden because of the increase in mobile phone charges, it does not seem to have curtailed mobile phone usage in the country. Most people are still very much engaged on their phones. Whether it is talking, texting or browsing the internet, higher phone bills don’t seem to have put people off their phones.
High taxes will not stop people from using mobile phones. Perhaps that’s why the Government slapped the VAT on it in the first place –people will complain of higher charges, but it won’t lower usage.
The old and or the young... no one can manage without his/her mobile phone
From the ‘beasts of burden’ at the Pettah market (above), to vendors, to wholesale dealers, the mobile phone is part and parcel of their daily lives