The government on Monday withdrew all value added taxes (VAT) and supplementary duties imposed on SIM card replacements for the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service.
The Internal Resources Division of the Finance Ministry published a gazette notification exempting MNP services from all taxes on several conditions, reports UNB.
The MNP is a service through which customers can switch from one mobile operator to another , keeping their number unchanged.
On October 17 last year, the government reduced taxes for MNP services to Tk57.50 from Tk157.50 after only 17 days of imposition of such taxes.
As per the conditions mentioned in the new gazette, now all mobile phone operators will have to send their previous month's information on the total stock of SIM cards, the number of subscribers who were ported in and ported out through MNP services, as well as information about changing SIM cards for other reasons and collection of taxes and duties against it, to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in the first week of every month.
Also, mobile operators will have to send names and number of subscribers who were ported in and ported out, availing MNP services in line with the conditions.
In an instant reaction, an official of mobile network operator Robi Axiata Ltd, requesting anonymity, said the decision for removal of SIM replacement taxes for MNP services is a very positive step.
"We hope that it will enhance the interests of clients to avail this service and thus the government's revenues will go up further," he added.
The decision will also intensify competition among mobile phone operators to render MNP services and the client will get better services, he remarked.
