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The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has earned around Tk 1.72 billion in the first quarter of the current fiscal from sales tax of nearly 2.0 million new cell phone connections.
Grameen Phone (GP), country's largest private cell phone operator paid over 62 per cent of the amount during July-October period of the 2005-06 fiscal, followed by Banglalink chipping in with 19 per cent.
Sales tax on cell phone connections has been introduced from the current fiscal amid criticisms from the country's private operators, which claimed that the move would stunt the progressive growth of the sector.
"But in reality, statistics suggested that the move did not hamper the dynamic growth significantly," NBR chairman Khairuzzman Chowdhury told the FE.
On the other hand, it has boosted the revenue earning of the government.
The NBR can easily now attain between 6.0 and 8.0 per cent of its annual target from the Value Added Tax (VAT) head by virtue of this move, he added.
Though the government initially slapped Tk 1,200 sales tax on each cell connection, it was later lowered down to Tk 900 on demand from the four private operators.
During the July-October period, GP sold nearly 1.1 million connections and paid Tk 1.07 billion to the national revenue basket. Banglalink provided 0.35 million connections and paid Tk 330 million.
AKTEL managed to connect 0.15 million new subscribers and paid Tk 140 million as sales tax.
Teletalk, the state-owned cell operator and CityCell, country's first private mobile operator, added 0.1 million new connections and paid Tk 10 million each, sources said.
Sources said the revenue earning from the sales tax against cell phone connections would increase in the coming months.
Going by a rough estimate of the last two months - December and November- sources added that the average monthly collection of Tk 430 million might double.
Commenting on the NBR forecast, an official of a private cell operator told the FE that this was possible because GP had crossed the 5.0 million mark in November and Banglalink crossed the 1.0 million mark in the following month.
Besides, other operators made various attractive offers during the months on occasion of the Eid-ul Fitr and the New Year, the official added.
The NBR that earned nearly Tk 5.0 billion in 2004-05 fiscal, charging 15 per cent VAT on call charges hoped that the amount too would increase in the current fiscal.
Target of the VAT wing has been fixed at Tk 126.75 billion for the current fiscal, up by some Tk 20 billion from last fiscal. The contribution of the wing to annual NBR revenue target is more than one-third.
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