Proposed 3g Service
NBR cuts VAT on fees to 5pc
The National Board of Revenue on Sunday slashed again the proposed VAT on the 3G licence fees to 5 per cent from 7.5 per cent.
In this regard, the NBR issued a statutory regulatory order on the day, a day ahead of the Monday deadline for submission of applications by the mobile companies for participating in the auction for 3G licences.
The government earlier directed NBR to lower the VAT for the second time bowing down to the pressure from the mobile operators in a desperate bid to hold the auction before the end of tenure of the current government.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission will hold the auction for four 3G service licences on September 2, after rescheduling the date several times to convince the operators to take part in the bidding by meeting their demands.
The government, which ends its tenure in October, initially aimed at getting at least $800 million from awarding 3G licences to three local mobile operators and an international company.
But, officials of BTRC are now sceptical about the participation of any foreign operator in the auction because of rumours of syndication among the local operators.
The NBR earlier reduced the proposed VAT on 3G fees to 7.5 per cent from the standard rate of 15 per cent as per the order of the government high ups following the demand of the operators for full withdrawal.
Mobile operators warned the government that they would not participate in auction for three licences for 3G operations if the tax issue was not settled.
The NBR, meanwhile, sent another proposal on Sunday to the finance ministry for exempting the mobile phone operators from giving 15 per cent value-added tax on their revenue sharing with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission from the existing 2G services.
The revenue board on August 6 exempted the mobile phone operators from giving 15 per cent VAT on their revenue from 3G services to be shared with the BTRC.
-With New Age input
