The Communication's sector is undergoing changes & we need to think about how OTTs affect us now and in the future. Voice calls from telecom provider are on a decline, as OTTs perfect their technology, it will become a natural choice for everyone to make call using OTTs. 
What does this mean? Voice as a service is shifting & Voice over IP (VoIP) will be the next big thing. Taxation regimes that focuses on voice communication as a service have to change & focus on data services & OTTs. Data is driving video communications & online broadcasting
As everyone embraces OTTs, all revenue streams will end up in Silicon Valley. OTT companies are generating huge revenue streams from advertising based on user numbers. Critical thinking here, how does our government expand the tax base when revenues are shifting to OTT providers?
Mind you these OTT companies are not licensed locally for taxation purposes & we have not yet gained the critical mass to attract that kind of attention. Does that mean we lose out entirely? We pay taxes on beer, whisky, fuel and cigarettes. Is it impossible on OTT services?
In developed nations, Tech companies reduce data costs to zero rate because revenues from advertising more than compensate for establishment & operational costs. We cannot afford this luxury here. We need to increase data usage & bringing down prices through economies of scale.
That is why government has to be mindful and long-sighted otherwise the revenues from traditional telecommunication providers are under threat. They will disappear in the near future. It makes sense for countries like ours to look at the usage and consumption moving forward.
We will have to increase access to the internet through the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) to bring down cost of access and encourages consumption. This provides the opportunity and justification to tax consumption. Government is making significant strides on the NBI
This means that traditional telecom operators continue to survive make business on data because of an increasing data market (consumption), users continue to access OTTs and the government collects economic rent by providing an enabling environment.
Support OTT TAX. It is a good tax and the government is being far sighted to the realities of technology evolution. Nobody is limited to access and usage of the internet were infrastructure allows. Otherwise, blocking OTTs like in some Middle East jurisdictions is inconceivable
There should not be contention as to whether to pay tax or not, but to establish convenient ways of payment. Developed nations mastered the art of disguising taxes which inevitability pass to consumers. Their advantage is they register these tech companies for taxation.
