Ncell accounted for more than 50 percent of this figure, pouring Rs 20.76 billion into the government coffers. State-owned Nepal Telecom (NT) chipped in Rs 13.39 billion, according to the annual progress report prepared by the NTA. As per the latest figures, Ncell has overtaken NT as the largest taxpayer in the sector.
Even as the telecom regulator released figure shows Ncell becoming the top tax payer. NT has stated that it was still the largest revenue contributing company paying Rs 21.92 billion revenue (tax and non-tax) to the government in the last fiscal year. The amount also include over Rs 6 billion dividend paid to the government by the NT.
However, NTA officials argue that the NT paid dividend could not be added as tax. They said there had been a massive growth in tax payments mainly due to the increased earnings of Ncell. Purushottam Khanal, director of the NTA said tax payments by all the telecom companies had been increasing along with their rising subscriber base. The number of users of telecom services reached 21.3 million by the end of the last fiscal year, up from 17.2 million a year ago.
Milan Sharma, corporate communication expert of Ncell, said that tax payments to the government had soared with an increase in business volume and frequency fees. “Revenue has grown along with the user base,” he added.
As per the NTA, the Rs 35.34 billion in taxes collected in the last fiscal year were advance income tax (Rs 7.94 billion), value added tax (Rs 10.46 billion), customs duty (Rs 1.76 billion), royalty (Rs 1.48 billion), contribution to the Rural Telecommunica-tion Development Fund (Rs 1.15 billion), frequency fee (Rs 3.55 billion), tax deduction at source (Rs 2.55 billion), telecom service charge (Rs 4.47 billion), ownership tax (Rs 950.69 million) and property and vehicle tax (Rs 258,240).
Tax collection from other companies Smart Telecom, Nepal Satellite Telecom and STM Telecom Sanchar has also gone up. NTA said a rise in the number of users, pricing for additional spectrum being used by the operators and fixing of 3G spectrum fee were the reasons behind the growth in tax collection from telecom companies.
Ncell and NT paid Rs 1.92 billion as 3G spectrum fee in the last fiscal year. The taxes paid by the telecom companies do not include the Rs 6 billion paid by NT to the government as dividend and the Rs 5 billion paid by Ncell and the Rs 2.5 billion paid by NT as part payment of their licence renewal fee.
Revenue contribution compared
Operator 2012-13 2011-12
Ncell Rs 20.76b Rs 11.23b
Nepal Telecom Rs 13.39b Rs 12.38b
United Telecom Limited Rs 584.27m —
Smart Telecom Rs 334.75m Rs 147.26m
Nepal Satellite Telecom Rs 193.86m Rs 69.68m
STM Telecom Sanchar Rs 73.45m Rs 39.59m
(Source: Nepal Telecommunications Authority)
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