Mobile operators at a post-budget press meet on Wednesday said that the imposition of an additional 5 per cent supplementary duty on mobile service usage and a Tk 100 increase in VAT on SIM connections might negatively impact mobile consumers and the telecommunications industry, according to a statement issued by the Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh on the day.
AMTOB issued the statement following finance minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali鈥檚 budget proposal on June 6.
Higher service prices have led customers to reduce their mobile phone usage, resulting in lower revenue collection. The VAT increase on SIM connections, from Tk 200 to Tk 300, is likely to hinder growth of new mobile subscribers, the statement read.
Taimur Rahman, chief corporate and regulatory officer
of Banglalink, Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory affairs officer of Robi Axiata, Hans Martin Henrichsen, chief corporate affairs officer of Grameenphone, and Lieutenant Colonel Mohammad Zulfikar (retired), secretary general of AMTOB, discussed their concerns with journalists at the press meet held at AMTOB premises in the capital Dhaka on Wednesday.
Due to the additional tax imposition, customers will have to pay Tk 139 to avail mobile services worth Tk 100, making it the highest in South Asia, the AMTOB statement said.
Among current mobile service users, 63 per cent use mobile internet and 54 per cent are 4G subscribers. This indicates that about 37 per cent of the population does not use mobile internet services and 46 per cent are not yet using 4G services. Therefore, there is considerable potential for revenue growth in this sector, it said.
According to the statement, increasing the supplementary duty by 5 percent is expected to generate about Tk 1.5 billion in revenue. However, this revenue could be achieved by increasing data usage instead of raising levies.
