Govt owes Tk 13,144 crore to 4 mobile phone operators

The government owes Tk 13,144 crore to the country's four mobile phone operators, Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam told parliament on Wednesday.

Of this, Tk 5,954 crore is owed to Teletalk, Tk 6,102 crore to Grameenphone, Tk 6,150 crore to Robi Axiata and Tk 4,730 crore to Banglalink Digital Communications, the minister said in response to a question from Cox's Bazar-3 MP Lutfur Rahman, the minister said that Tk 5,954 crore is owed to Teletalk in terms of license fee, revenue sharing, spectrum fee, administrative fine and social responsibility fund. Of this, an application to convert Tk 5,554 crore into equity is under consideration by the Finance Ministry.

Regarding Grameenphone, he said, the total amount owed by BTRC for the 'Information System Audit' objection was Tk 8,494.1 crore. Grameenphone has paid Tk 2,392.1 crore in two installments as per the court's order. Currently, the outstanding amount is Tk 6,101.82 crore, for which a case is pending in the High Court.

Regarding Robi, the minister said, the total amount owed by BTRC for the 'Information System Audit' objection and VAT on the paid revenue sharing is Tk 6.78 crore. As per the court's order, Robi Axiata has paid Tk 1.88 crore in five installments, and a case is pending in the High Court for the remaining amount.

In the case of Banglalink, the total amount owed by BTRC for the 'Information System Audit' objection and VAT on the paid revenue sharing is Tk 4.73 crore. Of this, the company has paid Tk 3.81 crore, and a case is pending in the court for the remaining amount.

Meanwhile, in response to a question from Dhaka-19 MP Dewan Mohammad Salauddin, the minister said that BTCL has 340,000 telephone subscribers.

Income from satellite is Tk 764 crore
In response to a question from Comilla-4 MP Md. Abul Hasnat, Fakir Mahbub Anam said that from 2020-21 to 2024-25, Bangladesh Satellite-1 generated a revenue of Tk 764 crore 10 lakh through commercial use. During this period, the net profit from the satellite was Tk 163 crore 97 lakh.