Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) earned Taka 6,791 crore as revenue in the last eight years. Of the amount, the BTRC deposited Taka 6,702 crore to the government exchequer after excluding its expenditure, BTRC sources told the media.

The sources said the lion share of the income came from mobile phone operators, while the rest came from fixed phone companies, license fee, international gateways, internet service providers and various fines.

The telecom watchdog earned record Taka 3,184 crore in the last fiscal year which is about double from the previous fiscal, the sources said, adding of the amount Taka 3,140 crore was deposited to the government exchequer after excluding its expenditure.

The sources said mobile phone companies paid the highest Taka 1,786.25 crore to the BTRC as the government revenue sharing in the last fiscal. The BTRC earned Taka 436 crore as license acquisition fee during the period.

Besides, the international gateway, interconnecting exchanges and internet gateways paid Taka 303.20 crore, fixed phone companies (PSTN) Taka 30.95 crore and internet and V-Sat organizations paid Taka 248.72 crore. The BTRC realized Taka 255.39 crore as fines from different organizations in the last fiscal.

The BTRC earned Taka 1,677 crore in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, Taka 565.61 crore in 2006-2007, Taka 735.70 crore in 2005-2006, Taka 357.14 crore in 2004-2005, Taka 147.85 crore in 2003-2004, Taka 120.07 crore in 2002-2003 and Taka 3.45 crore in 2001-2002.

The BTRC income is raising every year due to rapid increase of telephone users as well telephone and other related companies in the country, the sources said.

According to the statistics of BTRC, the country has now 48.10 million telephone subscribers-46.69 mobile phone and over 1.40 million PSTN---till June this year who are contributing the highest income for BTRC.