ET View: Promptly review levies, charges and the high extent of revenue share in Indian telecom

There is crying need for proactive policy action to bring down charges, levies and revenue-share norms in the domestic telecom industry now frantically making provisions for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues following the recent Supreme Court ruling.

Telecom major Bharti Airtel has announced an unprecedented net loss of Rs 23,045 crore for the quarter ended September 30, on the basis of massive provisions for Rs 28,450 crore in AGR to the Centre.

The figure includes the principal plus interest, and penalty plus interest, with the interest component nearly double for both the principal and penalty amounts, in respect of licence fees and spectrum usage charges that are now mandated to be levied on telecom service providers.