Over 7% Drop in Government Earning from Telecom Sector
The Union Communications Ministry has informed that government’s revenue from the telecom sector has dropped by over 7% during 2018-19. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the Ministry stated, “As per the information available with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the Adjusted Gross Revenue for the telecom service sector stood at Rs 1,44,681 crore in 2018-19 as against Rs 1,55,680 crore in 2017-18, thereby showing a decrease of 7.06 per cent.”
“The decline in the Adjusted Gross Revenue is not sufficient to conclude belowcost pricing by the telecom service providers (TSP),” it said, adding that the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) has come down from Rs 124.85 in 2017-18 to Rs 71.39 in March 2019.
The Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also said that the Department of Telecom has held a number of meetings with the telecom service providers in the recent past, regarding the issues faced by the Telecom Sector. He further informed that based on the recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries (CoS) chaired by Cabinet Secretary, the government has permitted deferment of the payment of the spectrum auction installments due for 2020-21 and 2021-22 for mitigating the financial stress being faced by the telecom service providers.
The decision allows the Department of Telecommunications to give an option to the TSPs to defer payment of the spectrum auction installments either for one or both years. The deferred amounts will be spread equally over the remaining installments to be paid by the TSPs, without any increase in the existing time period specified for making the payments.