Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Bangladesh’s mobile phone users will be required to pay 2.0 percent tax at source while refilling and against post-paid bills.
Other taxes and VAT (Value Added Tax) on the telecommunication industry will remain unchanged, according to the proposed budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2012-13.
Currently, around 90 million people of the country are taking mobile phone service of six operators, the telecom regulator said.
Until April this year, subscriber base of Grameenphone reached 37.75 million followed by 25 million of Banglalink, 18.24 of Robi, 6.53 of Airtel, 1.8 of Citycell and 1.2 of Teletalk.
The government has also proposed one per cent tax on overall revenue received by International Gateway (IGW) operator from overseas incoming calls. Even the IGW operators have to give another 5.0 per cent tax which is paid to the mobile operators.
As per BTRC data, the country receives almost 45 million minutes international calls a day and total revenue stands at US$ 13.5 million counting 3.0 cents for per international incoming call.
According to the data, the government will earn revenue of over BDT 3.8 billion from the overseas calls.
BBN/SSR/AD-08June12-1:21 pm (BST)
