To further incentivize telecommunication sector, the government today proposed to withdraw currently leviable customs duties at the rates of 11% and 16%. Similarly, on the other hand it introduced a uniform rate of 9% Regulatory Duty on telecom equipment.
Telecommunication sector is one of the important pillars of the economic development in the country, the budget document stated.
However, the present government has proposed to withdraw custom duty and replace it with regulatory duty at slightly lesser rate.
The same government had doubled the custom duty on telecom equipment back in 2014 from 5 percent to 10 percent, which was gradually increased in later years.
Now, the government is taking credit for giving relief to telecom sector by removing one duty and imposing another duty.
The removal of Custom Duty and its replacement with Regulatory Duty will be a relief for telecom operators to some extent, particularly those operators who working on their expansion plans for the deployment of 3G and 4G services.
Expansion of advanced network will translate into penetration of internet broadband services to maximum areas which is tantamount of adoption of service by customers and their contribution for economic activity.