CoS on telecom bailout package disbanded

With the Cabinet allowing telecom operators to defer payments due for airwaves bought via auction until the end of March 2022, a committee of secretaries constituted to look at relief package for the debt-laden and loss-making sector has been wound-up, a top source said.

The Committee of Secretaries under Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba was last month constituted to examine “all aspects” of “financial stress” faced by service providers such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea Ltd and suggest measures to mitigate them.

The panel was constituted shortly after the Supreme Court upheld the Government’s position on including revenue from non-telecommunication businesses in calculating the annual adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fee to the exchequer.