Government mulling long-term measures to boost health of stressed telecom sector

New Delhi: The government is considering a slew of long-term measures to improve the health of the debt-laden telecom sector, which includes prospectively redefining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to exclude ‘non-telecom’ items and allowing telcos to surrender unused spectrum for a small penalty.

Other measures being discussed with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) include reduction in licence fees (LF) and spectrum usage charges (SUC) and phasing out bank guarantees, senior government officials say.

“The government is looking at ways to improve the financial health of the sector, not just of one company (Vodafone Idea),” said one of the officials. “If the sector is nursed back to health, Vodafone Idea too will benefit.” The officials though cautioned that the measures would require extensive consultation with the finance ministry owing to the revenue implications of some of them, including reducing the annual LF and SUC.