Excise duty on electronic communication services is charged at the rate of 17% of the dutiable value.

Electronic communication service:  Is any service of any description provided by a person or a company by means of any transmission, emission or reception of signs, signals, writing, images and sounds or intelligible information of any nature, by wire, optical, visual or other electromagnetic means or systems, including-

• voice, voice mail, data services, audio text services, video text services, radio paging and other emerging electronic communication services;
• fixed telephone services including provision of access to and use of the public switched or non-switched telephone network for the transmission and switching of voice, data and video, inbound and outbound telephone service to and from national and international destinations;
• cellular mobile telephone services including provision of access to and use of switched or non-switched networks for the transmission of voice, data, video and Value Added Services, inbound and outbound roaming service to and from national and international destinations;
• carrier services including provision of wired, optical fiber or wireless facilities and any other technology to originate, terminate or transit calls, charging for interconnection, settlement or termination of domestic or international calls, charging for jointly used facilities including pole attachments, charging for the exclusive use of circuits, a leased circuit or a dedicated link including a speech circuit, data circuit or a telegraph circuit;
• provision of call management services for a fee including call waiting, call forwarding, caller identification, multi-calling, call display, call return, call screen, call blocking, automatic callback, call answer, voice mail, voice menus and video conferencing;
• private network services including provision of wired, optical fiber, wireless or any other technologies of electronic communication link between specified points for the exclusive use of the client;
• data transmission services including provision of access to wired or wireless facilities and services specifically designed for efficient transmission of data; and
• communication through facsimile, pager, telegraph, telex and other electronic communication services."

Persons Liable to Pay Excise Duty on Electronic Communication

The duty on electronic communication services shall become due and payable by electronic communication service providers.