Stalemate over NBR's row with telcos fades

The amount of tax that the National Board of Revenue had claimed from mobile operators for SIM replacement may come down -- a development that may encourage the operators to participate in the upcoming 3G auction, officials said yesterday.
The NBR had claimed Tk 3,030 crore but a review panel found that many of the SIMs, re-issued as replacements, went to old or existing users instead of the new ones.
"The amount will go down, but it can't be said by how much," an NBR official said, asking not to be named.
The findings of the review committee, which was formed last month, will be put forward to the NBR high-ups and the finance minister to decide on the exact amount of value added tax to be paid by the operators.
The NBR claimed the money from Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Airtel on the ground that the operators resold the SIMs to new users.
The operators have been refuting the claim saying the SIMs were issued as replacements for the lost or damaged ones.
The panel, having representatives from the telecom regulator, NBR and the mobile operators, examined the replaced SIMs, taking at least 1,000 of them from each operator selected randomly.
"The findings suggest that the SIMs were issued to the existing users in most cases. So, we expect a substantial cut in the tax claim," said an official of a leading mobile operator, seeking not to be named.
However, he said further examination is needed. "It appears that the findings would encourage the operators to participate in the auction."
TIM Nurul Kabir, secretary general of Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh, expected an amicable and win-win solution.
"It will be acceptable to us if the matter is solved based on the findings," he said, terming the government attention to mobile phone operators as positive.