OTT tax causes massive decline in estimated internet users in Uganda

January 26, 2019 by OTT Regulation

The UCC tweeted out the latest figures on the impact of the OTT taxes. The estimated number of Internet users dropped by nearly 30% between March and September 2018, indicating even more severe consequences of the OTT tax than anticipated in the RIS policy brief based on July 2018 data.

The other story behind the data released by the UCC is that Internet users changed the way they use social media. People paying the OTT tax and the number of Internet users both dropped by around 15% between July and September 2018. But tax revenues from the OTT tax decreased by nearly 30%. The much faster decline in OTT tax revenues points to a combination of coping strategies by users, such as reducing their social media use and/or using VPNs or WIFI to avoid the OTT tax.