 have scraped off social media bundles normally known as ' Social Packs '.){kind=link}
Following the social media taxes that the government has super imposed on all social media users effective 1st July 2018 , The ISPs – mostly telecommunications companies (MTN, Airtel and Africell) have scraped off social media bundles normally known as ‘ Social Packs ‘.
Social Pack bundles scrapped.
The social media bundles removed where originally meant to surf popular social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn, IMO , Viber and many others at a relatively affordable rates .
The removal of these bundles comes at a time the imposed social media tax has affected a lot of social media users in Uganda .
On the morning of 1st July , many Ugandans woke up to a ‘ no access ‘ to their popular social media accounts . With this , a lot of Ugandans have been forced to either pay social media taxes or use other means to dodge these taxes .
When you dial MTN USSD code *150# to buy social media bundles, you’ll receive a short notice that these bundles have been suspended until further notice .
Similarly , When you check Airtel social bundle *175*2# , you’ll also notice that airtel social bundles have been scraped . The removal of these social bundles have left a lot of social media users in a complete awkward state .
Perhaps we think this comes at a time when a lot of Ugandans have resorted to use Virtual Private Network apps which could pose a threat to the productivity of these telecommunication companies .
The use VPN apps masks the user’s exact location and circumvents the blockage implying users can easily use the social packs to access YouTube , google and other websites without any restrictions .
The search of VPNs in Uganda across the google search has increased dramatically according to the google trends analytics . This implies many Ugandans have chosen these Virtual Private Networks to bypass paying the Shs 200 daily excise duty charge on Over-The-Top (OTT) services.
How to pay social media taxes .
MTN allows you to pay social media tax via its mobile money USSD code by dialing *185*2*5# whereas Airtel you can use mobile money USSD code *185*2*5#. Follow the instructions as deemed by the mobile money service providers and you’ll receive a notification once the operation is successful .
How this social media tax will affect the telecommunication market is a question only time can answer.