The department of telecommunications (DoT) is looking at the possibility of imposing 0.5-1% cess on spectrum usage charge (SUC) paid by mobile operators to fund PM Narendra Modi’s Swachh Bharat Kosh.
The development comes in the wake of a Cabinet meeting on January 5 chaired by the PM asking DoT to “examine the imposition of cess/charge on SUC for Swachh Bharat Kosh and bring a proposal for consideration of the Cabinet by January 15, 2015”, as per the copy of the minutes of the meeting.
A top DoT official said the issue will be discussed at the highest level in the ministry on priority as early as next week as the matter concerns the Swachh Bharat campaign.
The PM had launched the nationwide cleanliness, sanitation drive on October 2 last year to keep street, roads, and other public infrastructure clean. The government urged corporates and public to monetarily donate/contribute towards Swachh Bharat Kosh to fund it.
According to DoT, telcos have paid SUC charges of Rs 18,075 crore between financial years 2010-11 and 2013-14. On an average telcos have paid approximately Rs 5100 crore annually since FY 2012-13.
Going by these figures, telcos may have to pay anywhere between Rs 255 crore to Rs 510 crore annually if the government imposes cess of 0.5-1% besides SUCs paid by telcos. Telcos pay SUCs every quarter.
Telecom companies currently pay 5% of adjusted gross revenue as SUC. In case of mixed spectrum holding — auctioned as well as administratively allocated, it is computed as a weighted average where it works out at 5.5%. For Broadband Wireless Access or 4G airwaves they pay 1% of AGR as spectrum usage charges.
Telecom firms said they are against such cess imposed on them as spectrum in India is already very expensive.