"The state will be forced to take action if the call charges are not reduced," he told a function at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center in the city yesterday, marking the first anniversary of Teletalk Limited, a state-run company.

Post and Telecommunications Minister Aminul Haque was the special guest at the function chaired by AKM Shamsuddin, chairman of Teletalk Limited.

Speaking on the occasion, the finance minister said the private operators do not pay the premium but are imposing various charges. "Their charges are much higher than those of the neighbouring countries," he pointed out.

The minister hinted that the customs duty on SIM cards might see another rise in the next budget.

"When I imposed duty on SIM cards in the last budget, everyone, even the media, was shocked and started saying that the finance minister is set to destroy a flourishing industry," he told his audience.

"But they didn't understand that it will earn $ 2-3 billion" and eventually the industry did not suffer at all," Saifur said.

He asked the Teletalk authorities to increase the number of its users from the existing 2.5 lakh to one million.