Jio licence fee, spectrum charges among lowest

Reliance Jio, which has revolutionised the telecom market in India with its free voice calls and cheap data tariffs, is among the companies that paid the least licence fee and spectrum charges to the government. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Reliance Jio paid about ~8.26 crore as licence fee and ~14.83 crore as spectrum charges to the government in April-June 2017.

Bharti Airtel, on the other hand, paid ~1024.56 crore as licence fee and ~413.48 crore as spectrum charges during the quarter. It was followed by Vodafone, which paid ~677.72 crore as licence fee and ~320.06 crore as spectrum charges. Idea Cellular paid ~556.26 crore as licence fee and ~272.74 crore as spectrum charges.

Telecom operators pay 8 per cent of their adjusted gross revenue as licence fee and spectrum charges are in the range of 3-6 per cent for different operators depending on the type of air waves they have.

Reliance Jio started charging for data from April, yet its adjusted gross revenue remained negative because of interconnect charges, which it paid to other operators for termination of calls. The interconnect charges currently stand at 14 paise per call. The Economic Survey also analysed the impact of Reliance Jio on incumbent operators. It found Reliance Jio, which launched commercial services in September 2016, had forced incumbent firms to lower voice and data tariffs.

According to the Economic Survey, the price war and reduced revenue have trapped the sector into a highly leveraged one. The average revenue per user for the industry has come down by 32 per cent since September 2016. The outstanding debt of the industry is pegged at ~4.5 lakh crore, incurred mainly on account of payments for spectrum and other levies.

Reliance Jio started charging for data from April, yet its adjusted gross revenue remained negative because of interconnect charges, which it paid to other operators for termination of calls