‘Govt cut VAT on ISPs, not mobile internet providers’

Mobile operators on Thursday said that although the government has reduced the VAT rate over internet use from 15 to 5.0 per cent, it will not help them in reducing costs at consumer level.

Speaking at a press briefing organised by Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) in the city, they also said that reducing the surcharge would rather increase their service cost, reports UNB.

They added that the new VAT regulations dictate that the reduced charge will only be applicable for internet service providers (ISPs), not for mobile internet providers.

AMTOB Secretary General said that they recently wrote a letter to the National Board of Revenue to clarify the matter that whether mobile internet providers will actually be able to avail the VAT reduction or not.

They also questioned the recent directive issued by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), which passed the duty and responsibilities of international gateway (IGW) operators for mobile number portability (MNP) to mobile operators.

Recently the chief executives of the top three mobile operators including Grameenphone, Robi, and Banglalink wrote in a letter to BTRC informing the difficulties, saying, "There is no room to accommodate any change at this stage keeping 31st July 2018 as MNP launch date."

Nurul Islam said that "this is technically impractical, especially, as we have already completed designed, procured and implemented majority of the network platform."

"The new prescribed topology or method will delay the whole process of MNP execution and will affect the service quality of the operators when the operators are ready to launch MNP service by the stipulated date of launching on July 31. At the same time expenditure of the operators will be increased by manifolds due to the entire new method."

High officials from operators Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi were present during the occasion.