Telecom Commission sticks to 3% spectrum usage charge rate

Telecom Commission today stood by its decision to levy 3 percent spectrum usage charge (SUC) of adjusted gross revenue on telecom operators.

"For future auction, the Telecom Commission stood by its recommendation to levy 3 percent SUC," an official source said.

Weighted average will be calculated between broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, the current SUC rate and the spectrum that will be acquired in future by the company, the source added.

To prevent loss of revenue for the government, telecom operators will pay a minimum amount they are paying as per 2015-16 rates.

The annual SUC collection is at around Rs 7,000 crore.

"DoT to move Cabinet note for inter-ministerial consultation on spectrum auction in a week. All the spectrum bands will be auctioned simultaneously," sources said.

The sources added that the SUC for Reliance Jio, which has pan-India licence to offer high-speed broadband services, will go down to 2.88 percent, from 5 percent.

Also, for Airtel, it will fall from 4.9 percent to 3.74 percent, they added.

DoT will move the Cabinet note on spectrum auction in a week for inter-ministerial consultations and place it before the Cabinet for a final decision after receiving the feedback.

GSM industry body COAI had sought uniformity in the rate of SUC at 3 percent for all assigned airwaves and bringing it further down to 1 percent in a phased manner.