Freebies by Jio hit govt's licence fees, spectrum charges

Also said it could impact repayment capacity of the sector and even lead to payment default

Freebies offered by Reliance Jio at its launch in September last year created a downward pressure on the incumbent telecom operators’ tariffs, in turn leading to a revenue loss for the government, said the Telecom Commission at a meeting on Wednesday.

It also said if this trend continued, it could adversely impact the repayment capacity of the sector and even lead to payment defaults. The licence fee collection in the current financial year (2016-17) showed a downward trend, falling from Rs 3,583.9 crore in the July-September quarter (Q2) to Rs 3,166 crore in October-December (Q3).

There was a similar downward