The country’s second largest mobile network operator Robi has demanded the withdrawal of the existing minimum 2.0 per cent tax on the annual turnover of the telecom companies.
Terming the slapping of this turnover tax ‘unjustified, unfair, irrational and discriminatory’, the CEO of the company called on the government to withdraw the provision in the upcoming national budget for the fiscal year of 2021-22.
Robi managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) Mahtab Uddin Ahmed made the demand at an online press briefing held on Wednesday.
He said the company realised only Tk 3.80 billion in profits in the last 22 years against its Tk 268.38 billion investments in Bangladesh due to the high taxation regime and high spectrum price.
Mr Ahmed said due to the imposition of the minimum 2.0 per cent turnover tax, the total applicable tax on the operator now stands at 73 per cent.
“Even though the telecom operators are contributing in many ways to the country’s economy and digitisation process, the high taxation on the telecom companies suggests as if we were even more harmful than the tobacco or liquor companies”, he said pointing out that tobacco and liquor companies face less amount of turnover tax than telecom companies.
“The applicable minimum turnover tax on tobacco is 1.0 per cent, on alcohol 0.6 per cent, while as for the mobile operators it is 2.0 per cent’, he said,
The Robi CEO said the provision of minimum turnover tax on telecom operators should be revoked in the upcoming fiscal year 2021-2022 so that the companies can invest more for the development of the sector.
He also said that Robi got enlisted on the country’s stock exchanges amid assurances from different government high-ups that the tax rate for it would be reduced but the promise is yet to be fulfilled.
In no other countries where Robi’s parent company Axiata has operations, the entity is facing such high taxation. Thus the subsidiaries of Axiata in other countries are making higher profits, Mr Ahmed claimed.
In 2020, Robi generated Tk 1.55 billion in profits while the National Board of Revenue received Tk 30.35 billion from the operator and the Bangladesh Telecommunication and Regulatory Commission received Tk 12.01 billion. The company’s revenue in that was Tk 75.64 billion.
Robi chief corporate and regulatory officer Shahed Alam, among others, was present at the press meet.