Riding on 4G spectrum auction the overall earnings from the telecom sector increased in last fiscal year (2017-2018).
Bangladesh Telecommunica-tion Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has collected Tk 6,445.36 crore in non-tax revenue which 58.49 percent up than that on the previous fiscal year.
According to BTRC, the lion's share of the income in FY18 came from spectrum sales before February, 2018 launch of 4G by mobile operators. BTRC's revenue from the telecommunications sector includes its licensees' revenue sharing, license and license acquisition fees, and spectrum charge.
BTRC's revenue from the payment of license fees also dropped to Tk 179.02 crore in FY18 from Tk 194.09 crore in FY17. BTRC earned Tk 99.67 crore as license acquisition fee, Tk 23.45 crore as late fees, Tk 20.20 crore as administrative fines and around Tk 100 crore as other fees and charges in FY18.
On the other hand, BTRC's earnings under the head of revenue sharing from the telecom sector declined to Tk 2,501.5 crore in FY18 from Tk 2,648.90 crore in FY17 mainly due to growing over-the-top phone calls by using smartphone-based applications.
Acting BTRC chairman Md Jahurul Haque said that spectrum sales, ahead of the fourth generation service lunch by the mobile phone operators, helped the telecom regulator collect higher amount of revenue in the fiscal year. BTRC got Tk 3,520.64 crore from the telecom operators as spectrum charge in FY18 against Tk 949.25 crore in the previous fiscal year. Two mobile phone operators - Grameenphone and Banglalink - purchased spectrum worth Tk 3,844 crore at the auction held in February last year.
Besides the spectrum sales, BTRC also earned another Tk 1,445 crore as technology neutrality charge against the existing spectrum of the mobile phone operators. BTRC is yet to receive the total charges against the spectrum sales and technology neutrality fees as the guidelines allow mobile phone operators to clear a portion of the charges in installments.
BTRC's revenue collection under the head of revenue sharing declined amid falling incoming international calls due to growing use of over-the-top phone calls. As per the BTRC data, the daily average incoming international call was 6.7 crore minutes in January, 2017 and the volume gradually declined to 3.4 crore minutes in November, 2018.
'Although our revenue increased in the financial year of 2017-2018 riding on spectrum auction, the government's earnings through BTRC from the telecom sector might decline in the coming days due to the growing number of phone calls through smartphone-based applications,' Jahurul said.
'Same trend is also seen in the countries where internet penetration is high,' he said. 'There is no scope for avoiding such situation in Bangladesh as use of mobile internet has increased significantly in Bangladesh,' he said.
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