Following the drop in oil prices which will impact on the budgetary forecasts, the Algeria government decided to make some adjustments in various sectors. In the ICT and Telecommunications sector, the draft 2016 Finance bill provides for a Value Added Tax increase (VAT).

In other words, the VAT for accessing mobile 3G internet will jumped from 7% to 17%. For landline internet access, the tax remains low. Even the tax on yearly revenues for mobile operators previously at 1% will move to 2%.

Apart from mobile operators, importers of computer hardware will also pay more taxes. According to the same draft bill, a 30% customs duty will be instituted on imports of full sets of computers, laptops, etc.

The fall in oil prices, Imane Houda Feraoun, minister of Post and ICT, had already announced that it would impact on the sector by freezing investment programs and forcing a "rationalisation of expenditure". This investments freeze will however not affect projects on the expansion of the fibre optic network throughout the country, undertaken by Algérie Telecom.