Telecom troubles far from over even after AGR blow; telcos now face another Rs 22,000 crore loss

The massive Rs 1.33-lakh-crore hit which the telecom operators have had to take recently due to more than a decade old dispute relating to calculation of adjusted gross revenue apart, there’s another time bomb which is ticking for the industry, which could add to its burden another Rs 22,000 crore.

This is the amount which the department of telecommunications has charged the operators for holding excess spectrum — beyond 4.4 Mhz —which is referred to as one-time spectrum charge (OTSC).