Grameenphone has been honoured as the highest taxpayer for FY2021-22 in the telecommunication sector.
The telecom operator attained the recognition for seven fiscal years in a row, according to a press release.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR) conferred the award to Grameenphone during an event held at the Officers’ Club, Dhaka on Wednesday. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was the chief guest at the event.
Yasir Azman, chief executive officer (CEO) of Grameenphone, received the award and requested all to stand by the company to help resume its regular SIM sale operations once again for the betterment of the communities and the people of the nation.
During the fiscal year 2021-2022, Grameenphone has contributed to the national exchequer as a direct tax of Tk 2,490 crore and withholding tax of Tk 1,158 crore, read the release.
Since its inception till September 2022, the total contribution of the telecom operator to the national exchequer is Tk 1,03,497 crore, which includes a contribution to NBR of Tk 72,086 crore as direct and indirect tax, withholding tax of Tk 11,107 crore, and contribution to BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission) of Tk 20,305 crore.
The Grameenphone CEO said they are grateful to the NBR for honouring the company with the highest taxpayer award in the telecommunication sector for the seventh consecutive time.
He said, “…we are unable to serve new customers despite meeting QoS benchmarks set by the regulator. We believe this will have an adverse effect on the overall economic development of the country, not only because NBR will lose out on tax revenues but also due to its impact on all other sectors which rely on connectivity and digital solutions.
“It is important that authorities withdraw the SIM sales ban immediately as this is a counter-productive move towards tax revenues and ‘Smart Bangladesh’ vision.”
“Since the ban on Grameenphone’s SIM sales in June 2022, the country’s telecom sector has been witnessing an overall decline – from recording a total of 184.45 million subscribers in June to 181.67 million in October,” according to the operator.
“Besides directly hampering the telecom sector, this embargo is also said to have been affecting the company’s stock market investors and the country’s general image to attract prospective FDIs. NBR is also losing revenue from corporate tax and indirect tax, which includes SIM tax of Tk 200 per new customer. Moreover, BTRC is losing 6.5 per cent of GP’s revenue from new customers.”
