Lok Sabha Question No. 3364 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-09
Subject: Floor Price on Telecom Tariffs
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Margani Bharat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3364 TO BE ANSWERED ON 9 TH  AUGUST, 2023

## FLOOR PRICE ON TELECOM TARIFFS

## 3364.   SHRI MARGANI BHARAT:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether it is true that requests have been made to the Government to introduce a floor price on telecom tariffs to improve the financial viability of telecom companies;

- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the Government proposes to introduce floor price on telecom tariffs;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(e) whether  the  Government  proposes  to take  any  steps  to  improve  the  financial  viability  of telecom companies; and

- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor?

## ANSWER

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

(a) to (f) In 2019, representations were received from the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) regarding various issues, inter alia, including demand from some of the TSPs seeking floor tariff fixation by the regulator/Government.

As  per  the  existing  tariff  framework,  tariff  for  telecommunication  service  is  under forbearance except for services such as National Roaming, rural fixed line services, mobile number portability, leased circuits and USSD. Subject to compliance to extant regulatory provisions, service providers  have  the  flexibility  to  decide  various  tariff  components  including  recharge  value  for different service areas of their operation.

Government has undertaken various structural and procedural reforms in the telecom sector in  last  9  years  to  promote  healthy  competition,  protect  interests  of  consumers,  infuse  liquidity, encourage investment and reduce regulatory burden on Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). They are as below:

- (i) Rationalization of Definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue.
- (ii) Rationalization of Bank Guarantees.

- (iii) Rationalization of Interest  rates  and  removal  of Penalties  for  delayed  payments  of License Fee (LF)/spectrum Usage Charge (SUC).
- (iv) For spectrum auction held after 15.09.2021, Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) are not required to submit Bank Guarantees to securitize spectrum auction installment payments.
- (v) Removal of levy of Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC) on the spectrum to be acquired in future auctions.
- (vi) Removal of additional Spectrum Usage charge of 0.5% on Spectrum sharing.
- (vii) Permission  for  100%  Foreign  Direct  Investment  (FDI)  in  telecom  sector  under automatic route subject to safeguards.
- (viii) Moratorium/Deferment up to four years in annual payments of dues arising out of the AGR judgment and spectrum purchased in past auctions.
- (ix)          Launch  of  PM  Gati  Shakti  Sanchar  Portal  for  centralized  Right  of  Way  (RoW) approvals,  providing  a  single  interface  between  all  stakeholders  including  Central  and State/UT Government(s), Local Bodies and Service Providers.
- (x)   To facilitate faster and easier deployment of telecom infrastructure, Government has amended the Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules (RoW), 2016 on 17 th August 2022. These amendments pave the way for deployment of 5G small cells and optical fibre cable on existing street infrastructure and also rationalize the fees and charges paid by the telecom licensees for the RoW permissions.
- (xi)    Simplification  of  Standing  Advisory  Committee  on  Radio  Frequency  Allocation (SACFA) clearance process for installing telecom towers.

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