New Delhi: The government is considering a slew of long-term measures to improve the health of the debt-laden telecom sector<\/a>, which includes prospectively redefining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to exclude ‘non-telecom’ items and allowing telcos to surrender unused spectrum for a small penalty. 一个关键的步骤是一个审视一下AGR的定义排除non-telecom物品。这是一个长期的斗争和政府之间的电信公司,它点在最高法院赢得2019年9月。 新德里:政府正在考虑一系列长期的措施,提高负债的健康电信部门,其中包括前瞻性重新定义调整总收入(AGR)排除“non-telecom”项目,允许电信公司投降未使用的频谱小惩罚。
Other measures being discussed with the Department of Telecommunications<\/a> (DoT<\/a>) include reduction in licence fees (LF) and spectrum usage charges (SUC) and phasing out bank guarantees, senior government officials say.
“The government is looking at ways to improve the financial health of the sector, not just of one company (Vodafone Idea<\/a>),” said one of the officials. “If the sector is nursed back to health, Vodafone Idea too will benefit.” The officials though cautioned that the measures would require extensive consultation with the finance ministry owing to the revenue implications of some of them, including reducing the annual LF and SUC.
A critical step is a relook at the definition of AGR to exclude non-telecom items. This has been a long-standing battle between the government and telcos, which the DoT won in September 2019 in the Supreme Court<\/a>.
Trai recommendation
<\/strong>
The court then backed the government and widened the definition of AGR to include non-telecom items. But this left India’s older telcos – Bharti Airtel<\/a> and Vodafone Idea – facing a combined Rs 1.02 lakh crore in AGR-related licence fees and SUC dues, pushing already struggling Vodafone Idea further towards a possibly fatal financial crisis, say analysts.
\"So, a fresh definition for AGR excluding all non-telecom revenue could actually help clear all the doubts and grey areas which have been a bone of contention between the telcos and the government,\" another senior official told ET.
Licence fees and SUC are paid on the basis of AGR; so lower the AGR, lower the related levies.
![\"\"](\"\/\/www.iser-br.com\/Themes\/Release\/images\/responsive\/ettelecom-default.jpg\")
Besides, there is already a recommendation by the telecom regulator to reduce licence fees and phase out SUC over time. \"Discussions around phasing SUC out over a period of time and reducing LF to a token percentage are underway,\" the second official said.
Another major reform under consideration is a provision to allow telcos to surrender airwaves to the government with a small penalty in case any amount is lying unused with them.
\"At present, telcos can only trade\/ share airwaves with each other. Suppose a telecom operator wants to return airwaves to the government as none of the other telcos want to buy, then it cannot do so and is saddled with unused spectrum,\" the second official explained.
\"In such a scenario a telco isn’t forced to keep paying instalments to the government for the entire 20-year period and will make a telco more agile and speedy in making profitable decisions,\" the official told ET.
According to some industry estimates, Vodafone Idea is currently not using almost a third of its spectrum for which it has to pay instalments to the government.
The official added that giving a one-year payment moratorium – as requested by loss-making Vodafone Idea — will not be sufficient for the cast-strapped telco to survive. The telco has a debt of Rs 1.8 lakh crore, of which Rs 1.5 lakh crore is government debt towards AGR and spectrum payments. Its cash balance at the end of March was Rs 350 crore.
\"Vodafone’s board approved close to Rs 25,000 crore mix of debt and equity but it seems as though the company needs about Rs 50,000 crore,\" the first official said. \"The company needs to put its own house in order which means first raising tariffs and then achieving operational efficiencies.\"
Earlier this month, Vodafone Idea asked the government to grant it a one-year moratorium over spectrum instalment worth over Rs 8,200 crore due in April 2022, saying it won’t have enough funds after meeting AGR payment obligation due in March 2022.
The telcos have also been asking the DoT to scrap bank guarantees which companies need to furnish as security for their statutory dues which include LF, SUC and deferred spectrum payment instalments. DoT can encash the guarantees in case of any default on part of the telcos.
\"If the LF and SUC are indeed reduced\/ phased out, then automatically it will impact the bank guarantees which telcos have to furnish,\" the first official said. Currently Airtel and Vodafone Idea furnish bank guarantees in the range of Rs 6,000- 6,500 crore annually.
Officials say Airtel recently reached out to the DoT requesting that telcos be allowed to deposit cash with the DoT instead of bank guarantees which places a heavy interest burden on telcos.
\"The company has cited examples of GST and income tax, saying that the government doesn’t place the demand for bank guarantees on the industry for timely payment of those dues but imposes a hefty penalty for delay or non-payment,\" the second official said.
Airtel has submitted 347 bank guarantees to the tune of Rs 13,578 crore from 16 banks to the government so far.
\"A long history of extracting as much as possible from the sector has left a legacy of repeated business failures – including the largest bankruptcy in Indian corporate history, Reliance Communications<\/a>. That is likely to be trumped by Vi…\" Deutsche Bank said in a report.
\"For all the talk of the Indian government wanting three private players, there has been insufficient action to take that claim very seriously,\" it added.
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政府在考虑长期强调电信行业的措施,促进健康
正在讨论的其他措施电信部(点)包括减少许可费(低频)和频谱使用费用(往下)和逐步淘汰银行担保,政府高级官员说。
“政府正在寻找方法来提高该行业的财务状况,不只是一个公司(沃达丰的想法),”一位官员表示。“如果部门恢复了健康,沃达丰的想法也将受益。“官员们警告说,这些措施虽然需要广泛咨询了财政部由于他们中的一些人收入的影响,包括减少每年的低频和往下。
火车的建议
然后法院支持政府和AGR的定义扩大到包括non-telecom物品。但这离开印度电信公司——大Bharti Airtel和沃达丰的主意——面临总计1.02十万的卢比AGR-related许可证费用和往下费,将已经苦苦挣扎的沃达丰的想法进一步推向一个可能致命的金融危机,分析师说。
“所以,一个新的定义AGR扣除所有non-telecom收入可以帮助清除所有的怀疑和灰色地带是一个电信公司和政府之间争论的焦点,”另一位高级官员告诉等。
支付许可证费用和往下AGR的基础上;所以降低AGR,降低相关征税。
除此之外,已经有推荐电信监管机构减少许可费和随着时间的推移逐步往下。“讨论逐步往下经过一段时间,减少低频牌比例正在进行中,”第二个官员说。
正在考虑的另一个主要的改革是一个条款,允许电信公司向政府投降电波与一个小惩罚,以防任何数量是闲置。
“目前,电信公司只能贸易/电波与彼此分享。假设一个电信运营商想返回电波政府没有其他的电信公司想购买,那么它不能这样做,背负着未使用的频谱,”第二个官员解释道。
”在这种情况下电信不是被迫继续支付分期付款为整个20年,政府将电信更灵活和快速盈利的决策,”这位官员说。
据业内估计,沃达丰的想法是目前不使用几乎三分之一的频谱的向政府支付分期付款。
这位官员还说,给一年支付暂停——应亏损沃达丰的想法——将cast-strapped电信生存是不够的。电信有一个债务1.8十万的卢比,十万的1.5卢比的政府债务对AGR和频谱支付。其现金余额在3月底是350卢比。
“沃达丰董事会批准了接近25000卢比的混合债券和股票但似乎该公司需要大约50000卢比,”官员说。“公司需要把自己的秩序这意味着首先提高关税,然后实现操作效率。”
本月早些时候,沃达丰的想法要求政府授予对其频谱的暂停一年分期付款超过8200卢比将在2022年4月,说它不会有足够的资金支付义务AGR会面后将在2022年3月。
电信公司也一直在问点取消银行担保公司需要提供安全的法定会费包括低频、往下光谱和递延支付分期付款。点可以兑现任何违约的担保,以防电信公司的一部分。
“如果低频和往下确实减少/淘汰,然后自动将影响电信公司必须提供的银行担保,“第一个官员说。目前Airtel和沃达丰的想法提供银行担保在每年6000 - 6500卢比。
官员说,最近Airtel伸出点要求电信公司被允许与点而不是银行存款现金担保哪些地方电信公司沉重的利息负担。
“公司引用销售税、所得税的例子,说政府不把银行担保行业的需求及时支付这些费但征收很重的罚金延迟或未付款,”第二个官员说。
Airtel提交347银行担保13578卢比的16家银行的政府到目前为止。
“很长一段历史中提取尽可能多的部门留下的是重复企业倒闭——包括印度公司历史上最大的破产,信实电信。由六世可能战胜了…”德意志银行(Deutsche Bank)的一份报告中说。
“所有的关于印度政府希望三家私人球员,已没有足够的行动非常重视这种说法,”它补充道。
读到
New Delhi: The government is considering a slew of long-term measures to improve the health of the debt-laden telecom sector<\/a>, which includes prospectively redefining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to exclude ‘non-telecom’ items and allowing telcos to surrender unused spectrum for a small penalty.
Other measures being discussed with the Department of Telecommunications<\/a> (DoT<\/a>) include reduction in licence fees (LF) and spectrum usage charges (SUC) and phasing out bank guarantees, senior government officials say.
“The government is looking at ways to improve the financial health of the sector, not just of one company (Vodafone Idea<\/a>),” said one of the officials. “If the sector is nursed back to health, Vodafone Idea too will benefit.” The officials though cautioned that the measures would require extensive consultation with the finance ministry owing to the revenue implications of some of them, including reducing the annual LF and SUC.
A critical step is a relook at the definition of AGR to exclude non-telecom items. This has been a long-standing battle between the government and telcos, which the DoT won in September 2019 in the Supreme Court<\/a>.
Trai recommendation
<\/strong>
The court then backed the government and widened the definition of AGR to include non-telecom items. But this left India’s older telcos – Bharti Airtel<\/a> and Vodafone Idea – facing a combined Rs 1.02 lakh crore in AGR-related licence fees and SUC dues, pushing already struggling Vodafone Idea further towards a possibly fatal financial crisis, say analysts.
\"So, a fresh definition for AGR excluding all non-telecom revenue could actually help clear all the doubts and grey areas which have been a bone of contention between the telcos and the government,\" another senior official told ET.
Licence fees and SUC are paid on the basis of AGR; so lower the AGR, lower the related levies.
Besides, there is already a recommendation by the telecom regulator to reduce licence fees and phase out SUC over time. \"Discussions around phasing SUC out over a period of time and reducing LF to a token percentage are underway,\" the second official said.
Another major reform under consideration is a provision to allow telcos to surrender airwaves to the government with a small penalty in case any amount is lying unused with them.
\"At present, telcos can only trade\/ share airwaves with each other. Suppose a telecom operator wants to return airwaves to the government as none of the other telcos want to buy, then it cannot do so and is saddled with unused spectrum,\" the second official explained.
\"In such a scenario a telco isn’t forced to keep paying instalments to the government for the entire 20-year period and will make a telco more agile and speedy in making profitable decisions,\" the official told ET.
According to some industry estimates, Vodafone Idea is currently not using almost a third of its spectrum for which it has to pay instalments to the government.
The official added that giving a one-year payment moratorium – as requested by loss-making Vodafone Idea — will not be sufficient for the cast-strapped telco to survive. The telco has a debt of Rs 1.8 lakh crore, of which Rs 1.5 lakh crore is government debt towards AGR and spectrum payments. Its cash balance at the end of March was Rs 350 crore.
\"Vodafone’s board approved close to Rs 25,000 crore mix of debt and equity but it seems as though the company needs about Rs 50,000 crore,\" the first official said. \"The company needs to put its own house in order which means first raising tariffs and then achieving operational efficiencies.\"
Earlier this month, Vodafone Idea asked the government to grant it a one-year moratorium over spectrum instalment worth over Rs 8,200 crore due in April 2022, saying it won’t have enough funds after meeting AGR payment obligation due in March 2022.
The telcos have also been asking the DoT to scrap bank guarantees which companies need to furnish as security for their statutory dues which include LF, SUC and deferred spectrum payment instalments. DoT can encash the guarantees in case of any default on part of the telcos.
\"If the LF and SUC are indeed reduced\/ phased out, then automatically it will impact the bank guarantees which telcos have to furnish,\" the first official said. Currently Airtel and Vodafone Idea furnish bank guarantees in the range of Rs 6,000- 6,500 crore annually.
Officials say Airtel recently reached out to the DoT requesting that telcos be allowed to deposit cash with the DoT instead of bank guarantees which places a heavy interest burden on telcos.
\"The company has cited examples of GST and income tax, saying that the government doesn’t place the demand for bank guarantees on the industry for timely payment of those dues but imposes a hefty penalty for delay or non-payment,\" the second official said.
Airtel has submitted 347 bank guarantees to the tune of Rs 13,578 crore from 16 banks to the government so far.
\"A long history of extracting as much as possible from the sector has left a legacy of repeated business failures – including the largest bankruptcy in Indian corporate history, Reliance Communications<\/a>. That is likely to be trumped by Vi…\" Deutsche Bank said in a report.
\"For all the talk of the Indian government wanting three private players, there has been insufficient action to take that claim very seriously,\" it added.
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