Muhith wants spectrum auctions by June

Finance Minster AMA Muhith has instructed the revenue board to take steps to clear barriers to spectrum auction for mobile phone operators within the current fiscal year.

The move comes as the National Board of Revenue is some way off its target this year and the auction would give a boost to the collections.

Revenue collection rose about 14 percent year-on-year to Tk 54,407 crore in the first five months of the fiscal year, which is Tk 8,308.60 crore less than its target for the period.

“We have to make a special effort to minimise the gap between collection and target,” Muhith said in a letter to the secretary of the Finance Division and the NBR chairman.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission aims to raise nearly Tk 5,000 crore by selling 3G and 2G spectrum, according to officials.

But mobile operators are not participating in the auction due to disputes with the NBR about SIM (subscriber identification module) replacement tax.

Last month, the NBR at a meeting requested the telecom regulator to organise the spectrum auction as early as possible.

In the letter, Muhith also said the NBR has to speed up efforts to increase the number of taxpayers by at least five lakh.