Telecom relief measures to provide annual cash flow breather, encourage investment for 5G: Industry experts

NEW DELHI: The telecom relief measures announced by the government will provide an annual cash flow breather of about Rs 46,000 crore for the industry.

The moratorium on AGR dues will provide an annual cash flow breather of around Rs. 14,000 crore while the moratorium on spectrum dues will give another Rs. 32,000 crores of annual cash flow relief for the industry as a whole, according to an assessment by ICRA.

“A moratorium of 4 years gives enough time for the industry to carry out fundamental improvements by way of increasing tariffs, which is critical from the industry perspective. Other measures like rationalizing of the AGR definition prospectively is EBITDA accretive and a reduction in SUC on spectrum sharing eases the sharing and cash flows to some extent,” Sabyasachi Majumdar, Senior Vice President & Group Head – Corporate Ratings, ICRA Limited said.