BTRC, NBR accounts of online advertising by telcos differ massively

Telecom regulator BTRC has put the money spent by Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi on internet advertising in past five years at over Tk 87.44 billion while the National Board of Revenue says it is Tk 1.33 billion.

The High Court on Thursday ordered the BTRC and NBR to explain the enormous difference within Oct 20 after they had submitted the accounts.         

The panel of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice Md Ashraful Kamal also ordered the NBR to report what steps it has taken to implement a previous order to tax the transactions on Bangladeshi advertisements posted on Google, Facebook, YouTube, Amazon and other similar platforms.

BTRC and the NBR submitted the accounts on June 23 following a previous order of the court which is hearing a writ petition filed by a group of lawyers, one of the petitioners,  Humayun Kabir Pallab, who also stood for them at the hearing, told bdnews24.com 

According to the BTRC report, the three mobile phone operators paid a total of over $1.04 billion or over Tk 87.44 billion to the online platforms for advertisements in past five years.    

Grameenphone paid the internet firms $433.12 million, Banglalink $286.46 million and Robi $321.38 million, according to the BTRC.