India expects up to $1 bn from telecoms fee

NEW DELHI, INDIA: India expects to earn 40-50 billion rupees ($840 million to $1 billion) in revenues annually from a higher spectrum fee to be levied on mobile telecoms firms, Telecom Minister A. Raja said on Friday.

On Thursday, a Telecoms Ministry spokesman had said India planned to charge a fee of 1-2 percent of mobile operators' revenue for using additional airwaves and would also levy a one-time charge for spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz.

The decision is likely to affect all leading telecoms operators, including No. 1 player Bharti Airtel and rivals Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular.