Cellular Operators Association Of India

Draft norms had called for tracing and taking action against spam sources

COAI has restated calls to stop USOF payments, reduce customs duty on equipment

Cellular Operators Association of India says routers are available for sale on e-commerce platforms and through offline retailer

The recent amendments made in the Right of Way rules for telecom infrastructure will expedite the 5G rollout in the country and enhance the ease of doing business, industry body COAI said on Friday. The latest amendments provide for a single application for multiple small cell sites and allow licensees to set up temporary overground telegraph infrastructure when their existing underground infrastructure is damaged, among other relaxations. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), whose members include Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea etc, said that the provision would help restore telegraph services on priority, thus preventing major disruptions in services to the users. The centre has directed that no fees will be charged by the appropriate authority for this temporary setup. "It will enable rapid network reinstatement in the event of underground telecom infrastructure damage, expedite 5G roll out by utilizing the state's existing infrastructure, simplify application

The COAI's argument may also cover Chinese handsets, which have also been scrutinised by the government on charges of being security risks

The telecom sector says that over a third of their earnings is currently paid to the government as levies

Asserts that OTTs ride on telcs' network infra without paying fees while consuming huge amounts of bandwidth

Industry body argues for 'same service, same rules', says current disparities give OTT players privileges but not responsibilities

Says operational cash generation can be released for investments if govt eases tax burden

Technology has made some sections irrelevant while others need strengthening for the modern age, telcos have argued through their apex body, COAI

It had written to DoT secretary K Rajaraman in this regard on June 18

Telcos point to global trends and contend that 40 per cent of 5G revenues are expected from the enterprise segment and captive 5G networks will make 5G rollout unviable

The industry will keep pushing for its other demand of lowering the charges to zero, COAI's director general SP Kochhar said

Special panel discussion dwells on need for allocating 5G licences in 2021 target time frame, highlights importance of optimum spectrum use in times of Covid-19

Top line gets boost in March qtr as more people work from home

DoT asking for mass data records is worrying

Fifteen telecom companies owe the government Rs 92,642 crore in unpaid licence fee and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges.

The relief package may include a cut in licence fee, a two-year moratorium on payment

The sale of such devi­ces are illegal and may attract fine and imprisonment. Moreover, these instruments interfere with mobile signals leading to call drops and sluggish data speeds

The blended termination rate paid by Indian operators is around Rs 3.50 a minute for outgoing international calls