Who benefits from digital relief?

In Bangladesh, we have a special talent for feeding the stable owner, polishing the saddle, praising the horse and then wondering why the rider is still walking barefoot.

The latest telecom policy and the new budget deserve appreciation. The government has clearly shown that it wants to support the telecom and digital industry and accelerate digitalisation. This is no longer just rhetoric. Some real actions have followed.

The recent telecom policy offered meaningful benefits to operators and licence holders. Mobile operators received a clearer licensing structure, more room for infrastructure sharing and a more predictable investment environment. ISPs received a pathway towards a simplified regime under new classifications. Tower, fibre, international connectivity, satellite, data centre and other infrastructure players were also given space to grow within a more structured digital ecosystem.

The promise to consumers was mainly better quality of service. That matters. But a farmer cannot buy mobile data with a promise. A rickshaw puller cannot call home at night with a policy paragraph.

Then came the budget, probably the most telecom and digital-friendly budget in Bangladesh’s history. The withdrawal of the Tk 300 SIM tax, the removal of withholding tax on BTRC revenue sharing and licence fees, the reduction of withholding tax on mobile network services, support for local handset manufacturing, relief for ICT equipment, and VAT exemptions for startups, freelancers and content creators are all welcome moves. They show that telecom and digital services are finally being seen as national infrastructure, not luxury toys.

But one uncomfortable question remains: in both the policy and the budget, where is the consumer?

Most of the benefits go to operators, licence holders, manufacturers, startups or formal digital businesses. The ordinary mobile user, who pays the bill every day, gets no direct relief. On mobile usage, consumers still pay around 39 percent in VAT, supplementary duty and surcharge. In plain language, when a poor person buys talk time or mobile data, the state takes a large bite before that person can talk, learn, sell, search or survive digitally.

Compare this with India, where telecom services face 18 percent GST. Pakistan’s telecom service tax is also lower than Bangladesh’s effective burden. Bangladesh wants digital inclusion, but taxes the digital user like a small walking treasury.

The same consumer-unfriendly thinking appears in floor pricing for voice calls and SMS. Minimum prices are maintained to protect operators’ interests. But at whose cost? The poor farmer, daily labourer, domestic worker, student and small shopkeeper are not sitting in consultation meetings wearing ties and speaking with polished accents. There is no powerful mobile users’ association knocking on the ministry’s doors. There is no digital rights forum for daily labourers with consultants and glossy presentations.

So, policymakers hear the people who can reach them. Operators have associations, experts, data, international references and smart teams making their case. That is not wrong. They have every right to do so. But when only the powerful are heard, policy becomes unintentionally tilted. That is how the rich get relief, and the poor get lectures on digital transformation.

The benefits given to the industry are necessary. Without a healthy industry, Digital Bangladesh cannot move forward. But reducing the 39 percent consumer burden to around 15 percent would be far deeper, fairer and more visible. Millions would feel the difference immediately.

Digital growth needs supply-side incentives for operators, but digital inclusion needs demand-side relief for consumers. If consumers remain heavily taxed, network investment alone will not deliver the desired benefits.

The next reform must be simple: keep supporting the industry, but create a real consumer voice in policymaking. Telecom and digital policy should not be written only for those who hold licences. It must also be written for those who hold a Tk 100 recharge card and pray it lasts a few more days.

The writer is the founder of BuildCon Consultancies Ltd and BuildNation Ltd