HC Deb 09 July 2001 vol 371 c406W
Mr. Redwood

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of revenues telecoms companies in the UK paid in tax and licence fees in 1997; and what proportion they pay in the current year. [1615]

Dawn Primarolo

In 1997–98 annual licensing payments and the corporation tax liability of telecommunication companies represented 0.28 per cent. of UK central Government receipts. The corresponding figure for 1999–2000, which is the latest available on a comparable basis, but which pre-dates the auction of the third generation mobile telephone licences, was 0.23 per cent.