After initial resistance, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has relented and would now seek telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) recommendations on a proposal to bring in a uniform licence fee.
DoT is considering a uniform licence fee of 8.5 per cent of Annual Gross Revenue (AGR) be it for Unified Access, National Long Distance call service, International Long Distance or others.
"We may seek the recommendations of Trai on the methodology to remove arbitrage in the prevailing licence fee structures across various service providers with due consideration of the revenue receipts of the government exchequer and the growth of telecom services in India," official sources in the know said.
The telecom industry has been demanding a uniform rate of licence fee to remove anomalies across various segments as it has been noted that operators were transferring their revenues in those services that attracted lower licence fee.
Trai had written a letter in September to DoT stating that it is expected that the regulator would be consulted before the DoT takes a decision in the matter.
Trai had said that the proposal would have wide implications for the entire telecom sector as well as on the revenues of the exchequer and thus the regulator should be consulted and consultation process should be carried out before taking a final decision.