State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak expressed his dissatisfaction with the range of smartphone users in the country. The National Board of Revenue-NRB should be made smart as a preparation for the telecom sector to contribute to the country’s GDP. Without adapting a smart taxation policy, the desired growth of the telecom sector will be hampered. The telecom sector should be developed as a smart telecom sector.
For this reason, after Eid, he promised to solve the complications that have arisen for a long time including PSR in the telecom sector with NBR Chairman, BTRC Chairman and Finance Minister. He said, the rational corporate tax assessment and comparative analysis seems logical to me. Even as a state minister, I will advocate for the telecom sector on return on investment and incentives. I will have a meeting with the finance minister on the logical demands of the ICT and telecom sector in the week after Eid.
Palak said that Bangabandhu said that education is not an expense, but an investment; According to the World Bank report, the telecom sector is also considered an investment rather than a cost.
He expressed this opinion in a round table discussion on Telecom Taxation for Smart Bangladesh organized by Telecom Reporters’ Network Bangladesh (TRNB) on Sunday in the afternoon at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel.
BTRC Chairman Engineer Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited Chairman Shahjahan Mahmud, Technology Expert Sumon Ahmed Sabir, TI Nurul Kabir, Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman, Senior Director Hossain Sadat, Banglalink Acting CEO Taimur Rahman, Robi’s Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Shahed Alam and others spoke as special speakers.
In the meeting, Engineer Mohiuddin Ahmed said that if there is a change in the tax structure, everyone involved in this ecosystem should be involved. Not all the words of the discussion can be dismissed, but I am not the same with all the words. But reform must be done. The total system of the telecom sector should be reviewed and simplified.
Dr. Shahjahan Mahmud said, considering the interest of the country, it is appropriate to arrange the tax structure in the zero-sum policy. NBR should consider the telecom sector with transparency.
TRNB president Rashed Mehdi presided over the event. General Secretary SM Masuduzzaman Robin was also present.