The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court today disposed of 13 appeals regarding the payments of VAT on spectrum and licence fees of mobile phone operators -- Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink -- to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

A five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Hasan Foez Siddique delivered the verdict after holding hearing on the appeals. Other judges included Justice Md Nuruzzaman, Justice Obaidul Hassan, Justice Borhanuddin and Justice M Enayetur Rahim.

The mobile operators filed the writ petitions with the apex court over the payment of spectrum fees and licenses about 10 years back. The full verdict has not been released yet.

BTRC's lawyer Khandakar Reza-E-Raquib told The Daily Star that Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink would have to pay around Tk 2,500 crore as due licence renewal fees and revenue sharing fees and assignment fees to the BTRC following the SC verdict.

Grameenphone will have to pay around Tk 1,400 crore, Robi Tk 500 crore and Banglalink Tk 600 crore, he said.

But Grameenphone's lawyer Mustafizur Rahman Khan said it was not clear whether the mobile phone operators would have to pay any amount to the BTRC.

Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared for the state during the hearing.

However, the officials of the operators said the amount would be much lower than the BTRC lawyers were implying.

Shahed Alam, chief corporate and regulatory officer of Robi Axiata, said the full verdict was yet to be published.

"We need keep in mind that a number of complex issues is involved in this case. It can only be explained after receiving the full judgement," he said.

"However, we will be subject to a double taxation if we do not receive a rebate on the amount we pay as spectrum and licence fees. The collection of VAT on spectrum allocation would be decided based on the verdict of this appeal."

According to Alam, Bangladesh will be the very first country in history to levy such tax on spectrum allocation if the judgment gets implemented.

"The tax burden will unfortunately create additional pressure on mobile telecom service providers and ultimately on consumers."