Egypt’s ERTU to hike TV taxes
By Chris Forrester
A couple of days ago we reported that Egypt’s giant – but cash-strapped – Radio & Television Union (ERTU) was receiving about €27 million in emergency funding in order to pay salaries.
Now the country’s government is working on a scheme to dramatically increase its TV licence fees. Today’s charge for watching TV is collected as part of consumers electricity bills. The government is proposing increasing ten-fold the current 2 piastres basic fee per Kilowatt hour of power consumed to 20 piastres/Kw-hour.
The 2 piastres basic fee has been in place since the 1970s. The Egyptian Pound is made up of 100 piastres. One Egyptian pound is worth about 14 Euro cents.
By Chris Forrester
A couple of days ago we reported that Egypt’s giant – but cash-strapped – Radio & Television Union (ERTU) was receiving about €27 million in emergency funding in order to pay salaries.
Now the country’s government is working on a scheme to dramatically increase its TV licence fees. Today’s charge for watching TV is collected as part of consumers electricity bills. The government is proposing increasing ten-fold the current 2 piastres basic fee per Kilowatt hour of power consumed to 20 piastres/Kw-hour.
The 2 piastres basic fee has been in place since the 1970s. The Egyptian Pound is made up of 100 piastres. One Egyptian pound is worth about 14 Euro cents.