The Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body of the department of telcommunications, on Friday approved an extension for the payment of spectrum bought in auctions by telecom operators to 16 years from the current 10 years.
TC also approved recommendation of the inter-ministerial group (IMG) to lower interest rates charged over penalties imposed on service providers with slight modification, acording to sources.
The commission has also approved the shift from pending lending rate (PLR) to marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) regime for calculation of interest on delayed payment of licence fees and spectrum usage changes plus 400 points. It means the interest rate on delayed payments will come down to 12 per cent.
This will ease out stress for existing telecom players including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, who have been asking for financial incentives from the government. The telecom industry has a debt of around Rs 4.5 lakh crore.
It also approved the formulation of a draft of the new National Telecom Policy (NTP). "We expect the draft to be sent to the Cabinet by January and its approval by March," sources said.
The proposals will now be placed before the Cabinet for final approval.
IMG was set up to find solutions to ease out financial stress in the sector. Since the entry of a new player Reliance Jio, the indutry's revenues has been on a declining trend with margins dipping and tariffs coming to a new low where voice calls are free and data is being offered at dirt cheap rates.
The new telecom policy will focus on affordable services with good quality of service, consumer protection, data and cyber security amongst others. The commission also approved installation of 2,817 mobile towers in the North East with an outlay of about Rs 2,258 crore.
IMG also cleared regulator Trai's recommendation to mandate that every building plan should have duct for telecom cable and the completion certificate to the building should be given only if it has an incorporated duct in the building. "This move will boost telecom connectivity inside the building. Now, the telecom ministry will write to the Ministry of Urban Development for implementation of this decision. Some part of the recommendations like sharing of the duct in the buildings should be mandatory, will be sent back to Trai," sources said.
A nod has also been given to the Telangana government for Rs 1,231 crore for roll-out of second phase of Bharat Net project in the state along with its drinking water project Mission Bhagiratha.
Commenting on the developments, Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) said, "We appreciate the government for addressing our concerns. It does help in increasing the cash flow in the industry. It will ease payment burden."
It is learnt that the matter of adjusted gross reveneus (AGR) from spectrum trading has been referred to the Law Ministry.
New policy
It will focus on affordable services, consumer protection, data and cyber security amongst others.
It approved installation of 2,817 mobile towers in the North east.
