NBTC fixed USO tax at 3.75% of revenue
The board of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) yesterday approved the new Universal Service Obligation (USO) tax rate at 3.75 per cent of licence holders' annual revenues.
This is down from the USO rate of 4 per cent fixed by NBTC’s predecessor, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
The NBTC is targeting a USO fund of Bt20 billion within five years.
The new USO rate is part of the new USO draft regulations of 2012-2016 approved yesterday by the board. The new regulations are expected to be published in the Royal Gazette in the next 15 days.
Under the new draft regulations, USO tax will be levied on all types of licence holders, unlike under the NTC administration when it was only levied on Type 2 and Type 3 licence holders.
Under the new draft, licence holders earning annual revenue of less than Bt 20 million will not be subject to the USO tax.
The watchdog expects to collect USO fund of Bt3.753 billion each year. The current remaining fund since the NTC time is Bt1.7 billion.
Under the NTC, Type 2 and Type 3 licence holders were required to pay to the fund if they declined to invest in telecom services in remote areas. The NTC used the fund to hire others to set up telecom services in the remote areas.
Meanwhile, the NBTC board yesterday approved a spending budget from May to December this year of Bt3.518 billion and estimated regulatory fee of Bt3.918 billion. Of the total spending, Bt700.51 million is for the broadcasting committee and Bt768.25 million for the telecom committee.
