AmCham Urges Policy Reforms for Bangladesh Digital Economy: 5 Government Priorities Outlined

Dhaka, August 9, 2026 — The American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) has urged the government to accelerate policy reforms for the digital economy — calling for tax relief, improved digital infrastructure, and AI skills development at a policy dialogue that outlined five government priorities for the ICT and telecom sector, now designated as a thrust sector.

🌐 Five Government Priorities

Rehan Asif Asad, advisor to the Prime Minister on Post, Telecommunication, ICT, Science and Technology, attended the event as chief guest and outlined five priorities:

• 💰 Consistent five-year tax policy — telecom currently faces 51-56% effective tax burden vs global average of 22-27%
• 📶 Improved mobile and broadband connectivity
• 🌐 Digital public infrastructure — "One Citizen, One ID, One Digital Wallet" based on Estonia's X-Road platform
• 🧠 AI and cybersecurity skills development — 23,000-30,000 annual engineering graduates to be upskilled
• 📱 Electronics manufacturing expansion — citing Vietnam's growth from $1B to $217B in consumer electronics exports

💰 Telecom Tax Burden: 51-56% vs Global 22-27%

Rehan noted the telecom sector currently faces an effective tax burden of 51-56 percent, compared with a global average of 22-27 percent — and highlighted the removal of the SIM tax as a positive step. The "One Citizen, One ID, One Digital Wallet" platform would be provided free of cost, with citizens' IDs linked to bank accounts and the National Board of Revenue.

📜 AmCham Recommendations

Syed Mohammad Kamal, president of AmCham and vice president of Mastercard, welcomed the government's ratification of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and measures in the Finance Act 2026 including tax exemptions for freelancers and content creators. He called for:

• 📋 Greater clarity on the digital permanent establishment provision (1,00,000-subscriber threshold)
• 🧾 Reconsideration of ISP turnover tax increase from 1% to 1.5%
• 🌐 Easier inbound/outbound international payments for tech companies and startups
• 🤝 Involving foreign investors in policymaking and national business forums

🌐 Submarine Cable Capacity Gap

Rehan stressed the need to expand submarine cable capacity — Bangladesh currently has six terabytes of capacity against peak national demand of 12 terabytes, with traffic doubling every two years and new submarine cables taking 2-3 years to build. He identified national cybersecurity as his immediate priority and said work on a national AI policy would begin in Q4 through a joint team from private sector, government, academia, and research institutions.

AmCham members from Citibank, Cisco, HSBC, Mastercard, MetLife, Pathao, PwC, Standard Chartered, ShopUp, and Visa raised issues related to digital payments, cloud services, cybersecurity, data governance, and AI talent — calling for open-loop ticketing, wider Bangla QR access, and alignment of cloud policies with the PDPA.