Cabinet may withdraw OTSC charges of Rs 40,000 crore

338
1
Cabinet may withdraw OTSC charges of Rs 40,000 crore

The Union Cabinet is about to consider taking back one-time spectrum OTSC charges amounting to Rs 40,000 crore against telecom giants, a move that will give relief to Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, government sources told Business Today.

Reliance Jio is not a legacy operator and the beneficiaries of this would be Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel.

The case of OTSC dates back to 2008 and is pending before various high courts, apart from the Supreme Court.

The Department of Telecom DoT has levied a charge on operators for holding excess spectrum above 4.4 Mhz, which is referred to as OTSC.

After the G licences given in January 2008 by then telecom minister A Raja, the United Progressive Alliance government took the decision to levy OTSC. The licenses were cancelled by the Supreme Court in February 2012. The government decided to charge for spectrum given to operators beyond the contracted amount because of the furore it raised as these were given at 2001 rates of Rs 1,658 crore.