NBR says receipts from telecom to drop

The National Board of Revenue's total collections from the telecom sector is set to drop about 10 percent year-on-year in fiscal 2015-16 after the government slashed SIM tax.

The revenue authority, in a letter to the telecom division on Tuesday, said the projected earnings from the sector, based on ten-month collections, would be Tk 2,800 crore.

However, Tarana Halim, state minister for telecom, differs with the generalisation, saying the industry's overall contribution to the national economy is much higher than any other time.

Earnings from SIM tax plummeted 57 percent after the government slashed the tax to Tk 100 per new connection from Tk 300 previously.

Last year's social media blockings also negatively impacted the mobile operators' data revenue and subsequently the government's takings from the sector, the NBR said in the letter.

Last year, the government blocked social media sites for 22 days, which cost the mobile operators about Tk 10 crore on average, said an official of a network operator.

To boost collections in the upcoming fiscal year, the revenue authority has sought a meeting with the telecom division. The meeting may be held on June 26, said a senior official of the division.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission's botched attempt at organising a spectrum auction has also impacted the NBR's earnings. The government plans to earn more than Tk 3,000 crore from the auction. 

The telecom watchdog set out to organise the spectrum auction in fiscal 2014-15 but it was pushed back to fiscal 2015-16. The auction did not take place this year either.

The auction will definitely take place in fiscal 2016-17, according to Tarana.

She also said she requested Finance Minister AMA Muhith to scrap supplementary duty on telecom services as it may negatively impact the digitisation process.

In fiscal 2014-15, the government introduced a 3 percent supplementary duty for all telecom services through SIMs, which was increased to 5 percent this month.

The NBR also said in the letter than the 3 percent supplementary duty made up for the slack in collections from the SIM tax segment.

About the protracted issue of merger between Robi and Airtel, Tarana said: “From the merger we will get some revenue and the industry will get a momentum, which will definitely give us a boost to our collections.”

Meanwhile, the BTRC is projected to log in Tk 4,185 crore as revenue for this year, up slightly from fiscal 2014-15.