DoT estimates centre’s revenues amounting Rs 30,927 crore from one-time time fee

07 Nov 2012 Evaluate

The government’s revenue generation target from 2G spectrum auctions may have haywire due to the collapse of the CDMA auction, but it hopes to make up the loss by levying a one-time fee on incumbent telcos. As per Department of Telecommunications (DoT) estimates, the government can mop as much as Rs 30,927 crore by imposing a one-time licence fee on telecom operators, a decision that was taken by an empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on spectrum last month.

However out of the total amount, one third of this fee, which sums up to be Rs 11,818 crore, will fall on state run Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL), where in both the companies have already requested the government to pay the fee for them, leaving them with revenue of Rs 19,109 crore.

However, based on the government calculation, it will get only Rs 10,205 crore from the one-time payment. Out of which, also the exchequer may get only a third of the amount (DOT estimated 19,109) this fiscal, or about Rs 6,000 crore, as telcos have been granted with an option of making staggered payment towards this one-time levy.

Last month, the EGoM headed by finance minister P Chidambaram decided that all existing operators would have to pay a one-time spectrum charge. This one-time spectrum fee is divided into two components. First, telcom companies have to pay for all their 2G spectrum holdings beyond 4.4 MHz and 2.5 MHz in the case of CDMA players prospectively for the remaining period of their licences.

This charge will be linked to the spectrum price in the upcoming auctions scheduled to begin on November 12. Meanwhile, the second component is that incumbent GSM operators such as Bharti, Vodafone, Idea and BSNL will be charged a one-time fee retrospectively for all 2G airwaves they hold beyond the 6.2 MHz mark from July 2008 to December 2012.

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