DoT mulls uniform license fee for telecos

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Department of Telecom is considering doing away with the existing variable licence fee structure for telecom operators and replacing it with a uniform rate for all types of services. The DoT has now set up a four-member committee to decide on the rate at which the license fee will be charged from the operators, a report from The Business Line says.

The move is aimed at removing the arbitrage available at present to integrated operators whereby they can load up maximum revenues on licences with lower licence fee.

At present operators pay between six percent and 10 percent of their annual revenue to the Government as licence fee, depending on the type of service. This allows operators with multiple licenses to take advantage of the differential fees and show higher revenues under the licence with lower revenue share.