Lok Sabha Question No. 4738 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-29
Subject: New Telecom Policy
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Bholanath (B.P. Saroj)

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4738 TO BE ANSWERED ON 29 TH  MARCH, 2023

## NEW TELECOM POLICY

## 4738.   SHRI BHOLANATH (B.P. SAROJ):

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether the Government proposes New Telecom Policy in the country and if so, the details thereof;

- (b) whether the Government proposes relief packages to Telecom sector and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  details  of  the  reasons  behind  supporting  private  telecom  companies  along  with  the contract details during their award;
- (d) the reasons for changing policies of Government to favour the private telecom players; and
- (e) the details of the present debt position of the telecom companies in the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) to (d) The  Government  has  approved  various  structural  and  procedural  reforms  in  the telecom  sector  to  promote  healthy  competition,  protect  interests  of  consumers,  infuse  liquidity, encourage investment and reduce regulatory burden on Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). These reforms include rationalization of adjusted gross revenue, rationalization of bank guarantees (BGs), rationalization of interest rates and removal of penalties, dispensing with the requirement of BGs (for auctions held after 15.09.2021) to secure instalment payments, permission for surrender of spectrum after  10  years,  removal  of  additional  SUC  of  0.5%  for  spectrum  sharing,  permission  for  100% Foreign  Direct  Investment  (FDI)  in  telecom  sector  under  automatic  route  subject  to  safeguards, easing  Standing  Advisory  Committee  on  Radio  Frequency  Allocation  (SACFA)  clearance  for telecom towers; and addressing liquidity requirements of the Telecom Service Providers by way of moratorium/deferment etc.

(e) The debt position of the major Telecom companies of FY 2021-22 is appended in below table:

| The debt position of the Major Telecom companies   | The debt position of the Major Telecom companies   | The debt position of the Major Telecom companies   |
|----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------|
| S. No.                                             | Name of the company                                | Debt amount (₹ in Crore)                           |
| 1                                                  | Airtel                                             | 103408.10                                          |
| 2                                                  | Reliance Jio                                       | 42486.00                                           |
| 3                                                  | Vodafone Idea                                      | 191073.90                                          |
| 4                                                  | BSNL                                               | 40400.13                                           |
| 5                                                  | Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL)                   | 20162.04                                           |
| 6                                                  | Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML)     | 19703.84                                           |

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