Financial statistics of BSCL and outstanding telecom revenues disclosed in Parliament
Bangladesh Satellite-1 Logs BDT 164cr Profit; Mobile Operators Owe BDT 13,344cr
Bangladesh Satellite-1 generated a net profit of BDT 163.97 crore over the last five fiscal years, while four mobile operators owe BDT 13,344 crore in outstanding dues to the government.
Commercial operations of the country's first satellite, "Bangladesh Satellite-1," generated a total revenue of BDT 764.10 crore and a net profit of BDT 163.97 crore over the last five fiscal years.
The data was tabled during a parliamentary Q&A session on Wednesday (June 24) in response to a written query from Comilla-4 MP Md. Abul Hasnat (Hasnat Abdullah).
According to the financial breakdown, net profits stood at BDT 84.25 crore in FY2020-21, BDT 85.29 crore in FY2021-22, BDT 29.64 crore in FY2023-24, and BDT 38.36 crore in FY2024-25. However, FY2022-23 recorded a technical book-loss of BDT 73.57 crore due to property asset transmission and depreciation accounting.
Regarding the upcoming "Bangladesh Satellite-2" project, the ministry confirmed it is planned as an "Earth Observation Satellite," and a feasibility study is currently underway to evaluate its economic viability.
In response to another query from Cox's Bazar-3 MP Lutfur Rahman, it was revealed that the government has BDT 13,344 crore in accumulated outstanding dues from four mobile network operators.
These arrears accumulated from unpaid license fees, revenue sharing, spectrum fees, and audit objections. Grameenphone tops the defaulter list with an outstanding balance of BDT 6,102 crore, closely followed by the state-owned Teletalk, which owes BDT 5,954 crore. Furthermore, Robi Axiata owes BDT 615 crore and Banglalink owes BDT 473 crore.
The ministry noted that since a substantial portion of these disputed audit objections and financial claims are currently pending under litigation in the High Court, the recovery process remains prolonged.
It may be noted that as the Minister for Posts, Telecommunications, Science and Information Technology, Fakir Mahbub Anam George, and the Information Minister, Zahir Uddin Swapan, were on visits to Georgia and China respectively, their responses were considered as read, while the Members of Parliament took part in the budget discussion.
On June 24, during the session of the National Parliament, the question by Hasnat Abdullah was included in the question-answer book for a written response. The question was originally scheduled for June 14.
//DBTech/MAR/IH//
