Grameenphone has been honoured as the highest taxpayer for 2021-22 fiscal in the telecommunication sector.

The telecom operator attained the recognition for seven fiscal years in a row.

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) conferred the award to Grameenphone during an event Wednesday in Dhaka. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was the chief guest at the event.

Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone, received the award.

"During FY22, Grameenphone contributed to the national exchequer as a direct tax of Tk2,490 crore and withholding tax of Tk1,158 crores. Since its inception till September 2022, the total contribution of Grameenphone to the national exchequer is Tk103,497 crores, which includes a contribution to NBR of Tk72,086 crore as direct and indirect tax, withholding tax of Tk11,107 crore, and contribution to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) of Tk20,305 crore," the operator said. 

"Since the ban on Grameenphone's SIM sales in June 2022, the country's telecom sector has been witnessing an overall decline – from recording a total of 184.45 million subscribers in June to 181.67 million in October."

Read more: Q3 2022: Grameenphone reports 6% revenue growth despite ban on SIM sales

"Besides directly hampering the telecom sector, this embargo is also said to have been affecting the company's stock market investors and the country's general image to attract prospective FDIs. NBR is also losing revenue from corporate tax and indirect tax, which includes SIM tax of Tk200 per new customer. Also, BTRC is losing 6.5 percent of Grameenphone's revenue from new customers," the operator added.

Yasir said: "We are grateful to NBR for honouring us with the highest taxpayer award in the telecommunication sector for the seventh consecutive time. Unfortunately, on this very auspicious day, we are unable to serve new customers despite meeting QoS benchmarks set by the regulator."

"We believe this will have an adverse effect on the overall economic development of the country, not only because NBR will lose out on tax revenues but also due to its impact on all other sectors which rely on connectivity and digital solutions. It is important that authorities withdraw the SIM sales ban immediately as this is a counter-productive move towards tax revenues and Smart Bangladesh."

 Read more: Grameenphone reports 5.2% revenue growth in 1st half