COAI pushes for cut in USO levy, asks govt to slash overall levies

New Delhi: Industry body COAI has said that the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) contribution should be kept in abeyance till the full amount of the said corpus is disbursed. In a recent letter to the telecom department, the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) said that alternately USO contribution should be immediately brought down to 3 per cent with ultimate objective of doing away with the levy in the next 2-3 years in line with the recommendations of the telecom regulator.

“Further, we earnestly request the Department of Telecom (DoT) to kindly reduce remaining licence fee from three per cent to one per cent of adjusted gross revenue…This will bring the total licence fee to four per cent from the present eight per cent,” the COAI said in the letter to DoT dated July 19.