COAI Pushes for Reduction in License Fees While Industry Focused on Keeping Networks Up And Running

Follow Us

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Tuesday said that it has asked the government for a reduction in license fees (LF) and spectrum usage charges (SUC). COAI, the industry body representing operators like Vodafone Idea and Airtel, said that it has urged the government not to excise GST on license fees and SUC as they are not services. While COAI has put forward the requests to the government, Rajan Mathews, director general of COAI said on Monday said that the industry has been working with the government to serve the customers. Mathews said that the first focus of the industry would be to keep its networks up and running at 99% of the time.

coai-pushes-reduction-license-fees




COAI Urges Government to Reduce License Fees, Spectrum Usage Charge

"COAI has asked for a reduction in the License Fees (LF) and Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) as well as modifications in the GST where spectrum debt payments, LF and SUC payments would not be classified as “services” and hence not attract GST", Mathews said on Twitter.

While it remains to be seen if the government does follow up on requests from COAI, the industry body recently said that the operators provided Rs 600 crores of benefits to prepaid users. In a response to an Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) directive, Mathews said that the sector itself was in an unstable situation due to huge debts.

Mathews highlighted that the telecom players offered benefits through validity extensions and extra talktime to over 280 million customers. Additionally, it was said that the operators should receive subsidy if the regulator or the government felt that more benefits should be passed onto the customers. TRAI in its directive had said that the benefits offered by the telecom operators should be extended to all prepaid users.

Telecom Industry Working with Government to Maintain Networks

Despite the challenges, Mathews on Monday said that telecom operators have been working with the government to maintain network up time and ensure a seamless moment of telecom staff.

"The first focus of the industry is principally looking at keeping our networks up & running at 99.99 per cent of the time and ensuring that the quality of the service that customers are expecting are maintained so we are looking at logistics on the ground, we are working with the government to ensure that our people have free movement on the ground that they can go and maintain the towers addressed cut fiber issue bring up service where that is impacted,” Mathews said.

Reported By

Reporter

Born in India, Yogesh loves to travel and has lived in multiple countries including New Zealand and Canada. His bylines can be found on various newspapers and blogs throughout the world, including Vancouver Sun, Surrey Now-Leader, Daily Hive , Investing News Network and Rach F1.

Recent Comments

Faraz :

Does Bharti Hexacom provide Airtel 5G services in N.E and Rajasthan Or Both are offering 5G seperately ? Who bought…

Bharti Hexacom IPO Set for April 3, TCIL to Sell…

Faraz :

Nice.. & BSNL 60 Mbps is even perfect plan for many if there are more than 5 devices connected. Many…

BSNL 60 Mbps Plan is Likely One of the Best…

Faraz :

Budget phones have degraded more than any other budget phones since pandemic. They are still selling some craps like Helio…

POCO C61 to Launch on March 26, 2024

shivraj roy :

i feel Vi has improved than what it was in 2022 i usually get around 8-10mbps in very heavily dense…

5G Users Consuming 3.6 Times More Data than 4G Users…

biswadeepmondal :

JioAir Fiber is working very well in KPA & HLR. Sadly they don't have any data only plan.

REP: Airtel Expands Network Footprint in Bankura District of West…

Load More
Subscribe
Notify of
1 Comment
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments