No settlement on disputed SIM replacement tax issues

FE Report | Published: April 10, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

The meeting between the government and the mobile-phone operators failed to reach a consensus on the disputed SIM replacement tax issues, creating an uncertainty over the planned spectrum auction.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith sat with the senior officials of revenue board, telecom regulator and top executives of the mobile phone operators on Thursday to settle their dispute over outstanding SIM taxes worth Tk 30.12 billion with the National Board of Revenue (NBR).
Although the finance minister proposed the telecom operators to pay the principal amount of the SIM taxes with a waiver of Tk 10.0 billion, they didn't respond positively to such offer, meeting sources said.
However, the telecom operators informed the meeting that they would need more time to discuss the issue among themselves.
Both the government and the telecom operators kept mum on the outcomes of the meeting. But the meeting sources, however, said further talks will be needed to resolve the long standing dispute.
The insiders said during the three-hour meeting, they also discussed various aspects of the telecom industry, especially spectrum pricing and its auction process.
According to the final NBR report, Grameenphone was scheduled to pay Tk 15.62 billion, Banglalink Tk 7.62 billion, Robi Tk 6.47 billion and Airtel Tk 0.39 billion to the NBR as SIM replacement tax.
In February 2012, the NBR filed 'oniyom mamla' (irregularity complaint) against four operators. In response to complaints, the operators filed a writ petition with the High Court (HC).
Previously, the major parent bodies of the local operators in a letter expressed their 'inability' to ask their local mobile operators for participation in the upcoming auction unless the government settles a number of regulatory issues.
The BTRC has already completed groundwork to hold the mega auction for 15 megahertz (MHz) and 10.6MHz in the respective slot of 2100MHz and 1800 MHz.
According to the guidelines, the government has fixed US$ 30 million as the base price for per MHz in 1800 band and $ 22 million for per MHz in 2100 band.
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