Telecom industry has urged the government to facilitate funding for telecom companies at lower interest rates to help them reduce capital costs. Representatives from the industry met telecom ministry officials to communicate their suggestions to help the debt-ridden sector. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will compile these demands and send them to the Finance Ministry for consideration in the upcoming Budget.
Most demands made were on similar lines as before, including reduction in Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) levy and licence fees. One of the recommendations was related to input line credit. Besides, the industry has also sought removal of GST on licence fee, spectrum usage charges (SUC) and on payment of spectrum charges, and refund of accumulated input tax credit. They have also urged that telecom towers be included in definition of plant and machinery for input tax credit, and further promotion of Make in India by setting up a dedicated fund that can be used by purchaser of telecom equipment.
The industry has requested setting up of a working group with stakeholders from the telecom ministry, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the industry, which will work on preparing guidelines for adopting the principle of input line credit. The industry also sought that the payment of regulatory levy should be exempted from tax under GST. Other recommendations included reduction in USOF contribution to 3 percent, and license fee to 1 percent of adjusted gross revenue (AGR).
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