Trai seeks share of telecom licence fee

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today sought 0.05 per cent of the annual licence fee paid by the telecom service providers and cable operators to meet its recurring expenditure and capital expenditures.

The regulator said its annual expenditure was likely to increase during the current year, from the current Rs 10 crore a year, because of additional responsibilities of television and broadcasting assigned to it recently.

It said the total revenue base of the telecom service providers and cable operators amounted to Rs 70,000 crore. The revenue base of the telecom sector stood at Rs 55,000 crore.

"If the government allows Trai to have a certain percentage of the annual licence fee paid by the telecom service providers and cable operators to the government, then it will be able to meet its recurring expenditure and also have a provision for capital expenditure," the regulator said in its recommendations to the government.

The regulator said in the absence of its independent source of funding it was not possible for the organisation to improve the service conditions of its employees and attract necessary talent to the organisation.

It cited the example of regulatory bodies like Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), which raise revenues from the service providers through registration, listing and turnover fees and asked the government to provide similar autonomy to it.

At present, all expenditure of Trai are met through grants from the government of India. The Trai Act provides for constitution of a Trai General Fund, in which the grants received from the government and other receipts in the form of fees and charges are credited.