Economic Reporter :
Mobile phone operators have urged government to rethink the 5 percent supplementary duty (SD) hike in the proposed budget to foster the growth of digital economy.
They said the government might get some revenue through the additional SD, but the move would hamper the growth and contribution of the sector significantly.
“It seems the government might get additional around Taka 300 crore by the 5 percent SD but it will harm the industry,” said Robi Chief Corporate and Regulatory Officer Shahed Alam at a virtual press conference on Tuesday.
Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) today organized the post-budget press conference using virtual platform to raise their concern as finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has announced 15 percent SD at the national budget proposal which was 10 percent in last fiscal.
The AMTOB made a call to the government to review the SD proposal. Its secretary general S M Farhad said telecom industry is currently contributing about 7 percent to national economy and a favorable business environment would help them to contribute more which might cross to 10 percent within a very short time.
Banglalink chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer Taimur Rahman said “every year they (government) are increasing taxes on telecom sector in different ways as it is easy to collect which is very unfortunate.”
Rahman said investors due to the tax policy are not getting interest to invest in Bangladesh any more rather they are moving to elsewhere with big investment.
Echoing to others, Grameenphone head of public and regulatory affairs Hossain Sadat urged the government to withdraw additional supplementary duty.
As of March, there are 16.53 crore active mobile connections in the country. Of them, 9.52 crore are connected to the internet, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.
Annual revenue from the market currently stands at around Taka 25,000 crore.
