EU Carriers May Get Tax Windfall

While initially considered a longshot, it's looking a bit more likely that European 3G carriers may get an unexpected tax windfall. After buying the licenses for many billions, someone realized that the purchase price should have included the VAT, meaning that a whopping 17.5% of those billions spent could be used to offset their VAT bill. As the Inquirer piece notes, what this surprise discount could mean is that operators will have a bit more cash to actually build up their offerings. It also will help lower the hurdle they need to clear to justify the billions spent -- meaning (hopefully) faster time to market with more innovative offerings. In some ways, it's sort of a backwards loophole to lower the overspending done on 3G licenses, but if encourages faster and better use of the spectrum, then that's only a good thing.

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