In the proposed budget for FY21, Finance Minister Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed increasing the SD on all kinds of telecom services to 15% from the previous 10%. Several other cabinet members and members of the parliament also requested the finance minister to scrap the SD. In the proposed budget, the government proposed a 5% hike in the SD on mobile phone services - voice and data. Currently, in addition to the SD, mobile users pay a 15% value-added tax and 1% surcharge on talk-time and messaging services, while the VAT on mobile internet use is 5%. The government first imposed a 3% SD on voice, internet, SMS, and other mobile phone services in FY2016, which was increased to 5% in FY2017 and 10% in FY2020.

Source: Dhaka Tribune June 28, 2020 15:55 UTC