This institution believes that in the 2024 budget bill, it is not clear how the goals of the 7th development plan will be achieved in Fawa area
According to Iran digital economy annotation, The parliament Research Center believes that the budget bill of 2024 in the field of communication does not have enough fit with the goals of the 7th plan. In this regard, this institution has made proposals to amend the budget bill, one of which is to remove the tax exemption intended for businesses active in native platforms; An issue that, according to the advisory arm of the parliament, is not attractive to small businesses and does not help much in the development of internal platforms and the activities of businesses on their platform.
The budget bill for the year 2024 was presented to the parliament by the government not long ago. The consultative arm of the parliament has also put the review of this bill on its agenda and in the latest report, it has addressed the field of communication and information technology.
The parliment Research Center believes that the 2024 budget program bill should be a one-year cut from the implementation of the 7th plan, but the comparative study of the 7th plan and this bill shows that the clauses provided in Note 11, which is generally known as the field of communication, are sufficiently appropriate with the objectives of the program. There is no seventh.
This organization also pointed to the lack of detailed budget lines and criticized that it is not clear how the objectives of the 7th plan will be realized in Fawa area: “The provisions of the government’s proposed bill in note “11” in four provisions only deal with three issues: promotion “Cyber security infrastructure of devices, financing the development of optical fiber access and removing project implementation obstacles, and tax support for digital businesses on domestic platforms.”
Proposals of the research center for the budget of 2024
In this report, the consultative arm of the parliament has suggested that one of the sections of the reform budget should be deleted and some other sections should be added to it. For example, the body has proposed to remove the tax exemption intended for businesses operating on native platforms; Because, according to the research center, this is not attractive for small businesses and will not help much in the development of internal platforms and business activities on their platform.
Suggestions have also been made to add to the budget bill, which generally include the following:
Organizing and accessing government data needed by digital businesses
Development of artificial intelligence and intelligence infrastructure
Facilitation in the field of valuation and acceptance of intangible assets in the field of digital economy
Supporting the development of microelectronics and mobile phone industry
The center has proposed to create new sources of income and facilitate data-based innovations, digital businesses to access the necessary data and information through the National Information Exchange Center.
In the field of artificial intelligence infrastructure development, it has also been suggested that the government be required to create an artificial intelligence development account with a credit of at least one thousand billion tomans; A credit that will be secured from royalties and royalties of the government from operators, the law on allowing the determination and collection of royalties for the activities of the non-governmental sector in the non-governmental field of post and telecommunications, as well as the sources of the law of the scientific assistant.
It has been suggested that the credits of this account be used for the development of processing infrastructure, infrastructure and basic tools for providing artificial intelligence services in the country.
For the acceptance of intangible assets, it has been suggested that the government grant at least 10% of the total facilities allocated to businesses in the field of communication and information technology from the sources of Note 2 of this law based on the acceptance of intangible and digital assets as collateral.
To support the development of the local microelectronics and mobile phone industry, the same previous procedure has been proposed for the 15% tariff on phones above $600. Of course, more detailed details on how to spend the resources obtained from this customs tariff have been proposed.
These resources are divided into four parts and, for example, it has been proposed to support the development of the mobile phone ecosystem with the Ministry of Communications as the centerpiece for the excess income of one thousand billion Tomans.
What is the most fundamental challenge of the country in the field of cyber security?
According to the parliament Research Center, one of the most fundamental challenges of the country in the field of cyber security is the multiplicity of decision-making centers in this field and the lack of integrated planning and management with sufficient authority. In this regard, it is suggested to add some items in paragraph (b) of note 11 of the budget, which mentions the cost of devices in the field of security.
According to this proposal, the cost of devices in the field of security should be based on the results of cyber security evaluation and rating in accordance with the rules approved by the Supreme Council of Cyber Space and through security operators recognized as qualified and having a secure audit license from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
It should be noted that in the other part of its report, the research center complained about the low speed of fiber optic connections and emphasized that the Ministry of Communications should consider increasing the number of fiber optic service users in addition to increasing coverage in the new year.
Ignoring the share of the increase in the Internet tariff from the government’s revenues
The consultative arm of the parliament examined table number 2 of the single article of the budget bill of 2024 and stated that according to this bill, the revenues from government ownership in the communications sector have increased by 27.4 percent and from 15.7 thousand billion tomans in 2023 to 20 One thousand billion tomans will be reached in 2024.
However, according to the research center’s belief, the contribution of internet tariff reform to the increase of government revenues in the field of communications has not been seen:
“In general, the increase in government revenues from the field of communications depends on two main variables: the rate of growth in Internet data traffic consumption and the tariff rate for these services. The country experiences an annual growth in the field of internet consumption, which leads to the growth of the government’s income. However, considering the finalization of the tariff reform of the country’s communication services, it seems that the contribution of this tariff reform to the increase in the government’s income from the field of communication has not been seen.“
Although the research center did not mention the increase in the government’s income, but considering the history of the operators’ performance, the share of more than 40% of internet sales in their income and the increase in the consumption of subscribers, we can expect an increase in income of 5 thousand billion tomans for the government next year.
No Comment! Be the first one.