The Silicon Review ^Asia

The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) is asking telcos to self-assess their dues and pay up because the Supreme Court upheld its verdict last month. Now the internet service providers and telcos must pay spectrum usage charges and license fees after the DoT’s notice issue. Every licensee must pay their license fees as per the license agreement, and they must also submit requisite to make sure that they comply with the stipulated timeframe. On October 24th, the court had directed the operator to pay at least 92,000 crores to clear the past dues within three months. The new demand is creating trouble for telecom operators because most of them are struggling with debts, losses, and declining revenue.

Paying dues might hurt the on-coming investment plans to roll-out 5G services. Three weeks after the top court’s rejection of the telecom operator’s definition of adjusted gross revenuethe notice was issued. The proposal was rejected because it did not include revenue from non-core telecom activities like rent, interest income, and dividend. This struggle started when the telcos shifted to the new revenue sharing system proposed by the government, and under this new system, they had to share a specified rate of returns with the government. Under the cabinet secretary, a committee is considering a few demands of telcos to ease their financial stress to create a favorable condition for investment.