Govt considering SPV with 5G sweetener as solution to telecom crisis

The Narendra Modi government is considering setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to reduce the telecom sector’s financial stress, according to a communication sent out by Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) to its member telecom service providers.

Under the Centre’s tentative proposal, the government will stop collecting annual licence fee (LF) and spectrum usage charge (SUC), which will be about Rs 4,83,000 crore over 15 years, from operators. Instead, the operators will give LF and SUC to the SPV for the next 15 years and get equity in lieu of it.

The operators will also pay their old adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues—recently mandated by the Supreme Court—to the tune of Rs 1,20,000 crore to the SPV in annual instalments. This will also be considered as their contribution towards equity in the SPV.