According to a report by analyst firm Digital TV Research, revenues from African OTT films and television episodes will reach $2 billion (€1.75 billion) by 2027. Netflix will have 6.94 million subscribers by 2028, or 45% of the region's total, Disney+ 1.29 million subscriptions by 2028, with deployment expected to be limited to Nigeria and South Africa. Prime Video will debut in Nigeria and South Africa in 2023. Digital TV Research predicts 3.01 million Amazon Prime Video subscribers by 2028. Apple TV+ launched in just eight African countries in November 2019, with 228,000 subscribers paying expected by 2028. A resounding entry which seems to suffocate traditional telecommunications operators. According to revelations from the Managing Director of Orange Senegal, the company loses 20 billion CFA francs in Senegal, due to incoming international calls via OTT. Worse, 2/3 of incoming international calls are made via the OTT channel.
Hence the need, according to him, to regulate, or failing that, supervise OTTs on the continent. But how ? A report from market research firm Dataxis believes that mobile operators have a significant role to play in the advancement of over-the-top (OTT) services in Africa. “As wider adoption of OTT services on the continent is hampered by limited internet connectivity, partnering with mobile operators can help overcome this barrier. Streaming platforms can collaborate with mobile operators to offer bundled plans including low-cost subscriptions and data, simplifying payment via mobile bills,” the document states. The same source cites as an example the partnership between the South African mobile operator MTN and Disney+ to launch a mobile plan for Disney+ in South Africa, offering a package to customers at a fixed cost.
The impossible taxation
Today, the configuration is such that OTT players use the operators' network, without necessarily paying them any financial compensation. This is the case of Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, Skype...One of the countries to adopt a 5% tax on revenues earned by foreign digital companies, by taking services, such as data, online games, access and downloading of digital content, as well as data storage...Uganda has faced some concerns, notably on the impact of this tax on Internet users and on the prices of Internet services, although the authorities were keen to reassure that this tax on social media would not affect ordinary Ugandans. “Currently, no taxes are charged when Ugandans use services such as Uber, where money is sent abroad without being subject to local taxation.
This measure aims to ensure tax contribution from foreign digital companies operating in Uganda,” the law commission explained. Alongside Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe have put in place legislation that directly taxes the digital operations of non-resident multinationals. While the debate in Europe is becoming more and more heated, Méta has stepped up to denounce. As an argument, the social network indicates “having devoted more than 100 billion dollars in investments and operating expenses for its digital infrastructures, including several billion in Europe. In 2022, Mark Zuckerberg's group says it has invested more than 30 billion worldwide. According to Meta, content providers as a whole have spent $880 billion over 10 years on infrastructure, which would save telecom operators $6 billion per year.
Méta also adds that it has invested in submarine cables, which has made it possible to quadruple transatlantic data transport capacity. Mamadou Moustapha Sarr web-entrepreneur sees the question differently. According to him, if a company does not have a physical presence in a country, it will not be taxable. “The invoices sent by the Mountain View firm come from Google Ireland Limited and Amazon manages international transactions from its offices in Luxembourg. Therefore, even a buyer will not be subject to VAT. However, if the buyer should pay these taxes, he should pay it in the country where the company is based. Furthermore, it is risky to want to impose these multinational. »
