In the fiscal year 2024-25 budget speech, Finance Minister Abul Hasan Mahmud Ali announced an increase in the supplementary duty on mobile phone calls and internet services. Effective immediately, the supplementary duty has been raised by 5 percent, bringing the total VAT on talk time and internet services to 20 percent from the previous 15 percent. This increase will be applied at the time of mobile phone recharge. 

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What gets cheaper, what gets costlier

This adjustment is expected to raise the cost of mobile phone calls and internet usage for all users. Mobile phones are widely used across various socioeconomic classes, serving as a primary means of communication and access to social media platforms such as Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Consequently, the increase in supplementary duty will affect the cost of these services. 

Currently, to obtain 100 taka worth of talk time, consumers must recharge 133 taka and 25 paisa. With the new increase, this amount will rise to 139 taka for the same 100 taka talk time. For a recharge of 100 taka, 28 taka will now be deducted as duty-tax, leaving the customer with talk time equivalent to the remaining 72 taka. 

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Budget 2024-25 - full coverage

The supplementary duty on mobile phone calls was first introduced at 3 percent in the 2015-16 budget and has been increased in several steps to 15 percent prior to this latest adjustment. 

Industry experts have expressed concerns about the potential negative impact of this tax increase on consumers. The number of mobile internet users has been declining for several quarters, and the additional tax burden may further accelerate this trend. They suggest that the objective of increasing revenue through higher tax rates might not be achieved if user expenditure decreases as a result. 

Additionally, the cost of purchasing a SIM card has been increased from 200 taka to 300 taka.