Call for tax taskforce for realizing Digital Bangladesh

A recent study on Digital Bangladesh calls for a joint taskforce comprising Ministry of Finance, ICT Ministry and National Board of to establish a conductive taxation regime for rapid rollout of broadband services, says a press release.
The taskforce will work to rationalize tax regime that will balance government’s entitlement to reasonable and stable revenue with the needs of operators to be able to predict tax effects and the people of Bangladesh to affordable telecommunications services, the study said.
According to the study, accessing the mobile internet is difficult for many Bangladeshis because of the combined effect of low spending power, device costs, and usage costs. Government taxes and fees constitute an additional barrier as taxes amount to 17.6 per cent of the cost of owning and using a mobile phone.
The study titled “Realizing Digital Bangladesh” was conducted by LIRNEasia, a telecom think tank in association with Telenor Group and Grameenphone.
Information minister Hasanul Haq Inu, unveiled the study in a hotel in the capital yesterday. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications & Information Technology, Grameenphone’s CEO Rajeev Sethi, Anir Chowdhury, Policy advisor of a2i and Rohan Samarajiva, CEO, LIRNEasia, were present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion the Information Minister said, “This report will help us to implement Digital Bangladesh in a pragmatic way.”
The study pointed out some areas like youth employment, healthcare, education and climate change which need special attention to realize Digital Bangladesh. It also mentioned that mobile broadband will need to be supplemented by a quality and wide-spread fiber network. Competition should be opened up for building better quality fiber network.
Anir Chowdhury, policy adviser of a2i said:”We need a win-win ecosystem, where all public and private stakeholders will be benefitted equally. There should be a holistic approach by all stakeholders to implement Digital Bangladesh.”

Call for tax taskforce for realizing Digital Bangladesh

A recent study on Digital Bangladesh calls for a joint taskforce comprising Ministry of Finance, ICT Ministry and National Board of to establish a conductive taxation regime for rapid rollout of broadband services, says a press release. The taskforce will work to rationalize tax regime that will balance governments entitlement to reasonable and stable revenue with the needs of operators to be able to predict tax effects and the people of Bangladesh to affordable telecommunications services, the study said. According to the study, accessing the mobile internet is difficult for many Bangladeshis because of the combined effect of low spending power, device costs, and usage costs. Government taxes and fees constitute an additional barrier as taxes amount to 17.6 per cent of the cost of owning and using a mobile phone. The study titled Realizing Digital Bangladesh was conducted by LIRNEasia, a telecom think tank in association with Telenor Group and Grameenphone. Information minister Hasanul Haq Inu, unveiled the study in a hotel in the capital yesterday. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Information Technology, Grameenphones CEO Rajeev Sethi, Anir Chowdhury, Policy advisor of a2i and Rohan Samarajiva, CEO, LIRNEasia, were present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion the Information Minister said, This report will help us to implement Digital Bangladesh in a pragmatic way. The study pointed out some areas like youth employment, healthcare, education and climate change which need special attention to realize Digital Bangladesh. It also mentioned that mobile broadband will need to be supplemented by a quality and wide-spread fiber network. Competition should be opened up for building better quality fiber network. Anir Chowdhury, policy adviser of a2i said:We need a win-win ecosystem, where all public and private stakeholders will be benefitted equally. There should be a holistic approach by all stakeholders to implement Digital Bangladesh.