Free offers a cap on mobile Ifer and a turnover tax.
What if the reform of Ifer mobile finally became a reality, suddenly detached from this image of a sea serpent? This fixed tax of 1709 euros on relay antennas (which can be reduced by 75% during the first three years of taxation) has been giving hives for years to operators who are constantly campaigning against the gradual increase in this tax. In full deployment of 5G, Orange, Free, SFR and Bouygues Telecom want a reduction in their taxation. On the other hand, communities fear a significant drop in their income. Not easy then to implement a reform.
According to the French Telecoms Federation, nearly 220 million euros are now back in the pockets of communities. With the deployment of 5G, the amount of mobile Ifer is likely to increase over time, by more than 80 million euros per year. “This tax is unbearable and unfair” hammered the founder of Free on this subject on March 22 before the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee.
The operator is campaigning for “a cap on mobile Ifer and a turnover tax”even if “nirvana would be a suppression”, launched Xavier Niel. An ironic and disillusioned tone that reveals a long-standing annoyance: “We are specialists in taxing telecoms in France […] we have been promised a reform every year for 3 years but it does not come, […] we are the hostages of the State and the communities”, he complained in particular.
It must be said that in 2027, operators should pay nearly 500 million euros. Worse still, according to Free, Ifer mobile is “unfair because it does not apply to operators in the same way, some pool their network and share this tax.” Xavier Niel echoes here SFR and Bouygues Telecom which according to him “will pay three times less than Orange and Free in 2027”.
In a report, the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) unveiled avenues for reform in 2021 with a view to simplifying and better controlling the increase in this tax created in 2011. Among them, applying the tax to the pylons and not to the antennas but also the taxation directly on the mobile turnover of the operators and no longer on the infrastructures.
The reform of Ifer mobile could be included in the finance bill for 2024. In any case, this is the will displayed by Jean-Noël Barrot, the Minister for the Digital Transition and Telecommunications. But not without conditions. The State wishes to pass “a global agreement” on the fiber integrating new commitments in exchange for this reform. But the telcos do not seem fooled at the moment.
This article was taken from the Univers FreeBox website