How Overseas Companies Wound Up With Surprising Tax Bills in Congo
After a high-stakes standoff, wireless operators agreed to pay an extra $5.8 million a month to the government
Congo is among the world’s least connected countries in terms of broadband internet access, and millions are locked out of the formal economy.
Photographer: John Wessels/AFP/Getty Images
One afternoon in December 2021, the regional heads of four of the biggest telecom operators in Africa were summoned to the Palais de la Nation, a presidential mansion overlooking the river in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital of Kinshasa.
When the meeting began, officials from President Felix Tshisekedi’s administration started grilling the executives, mostly foreign nationals who represented Vodafone, Orange, Airtel and Africell, according to people in attendance. The bureaucrats informed them that the government was preparing strict new rules that would raise their companies’ tax bills significantly.