RS Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.
NEW DELHI: The chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), RS Sharma, said that greater clarity was needed around the definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) to avoid confusion in the telecom sector like what has been seen over the years and in recent times, and attract more investments.
Sharma also rebuffed the telecom industry’s demand to speedily set a floor price for services, saying due process of consultation was being followed and that the regulator will come up with its decision once the exercise is over. “Now, the Supreme Court has given a verdict on the AGR issue, which is needed to be reset or clarified for the future… the DoT (Department of Telecommunications) must be considering the situation and the need to create a conducive environment for investments,” Sharma said With greater clarity on the AGR matter, “the situation such as the DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) receiving a demand notice would not happen”, he said.
The top court, last October, settled an over 15-year dispute between the government and telcos by backing the DoT’s wider definition of AGR of including non-core items. The ruling left telecom companies facing licence fees and spectrum usage charge (SUC) dues worth over Rs 1,47,000 crore. In addition, DoT raised similar demands also on non-telecom public sector companies holding telecom licences such as DMRC, Oil India, PowerGrid and Railtel, aggregating over Rs 3 lakh crore as dues.
Along with telcos, the PSUs too moved the SC in response to the notices issued by DoT. The SC is still hearing telcos’ appeal for some relief, but directed non-telecom PSUs to seek a relief separately from an appropriate forum, which is the telecom tribunal. Industry and legal experts have since called on the government to redefine AGR to iron out all differences, and leave no scope for confusion, including issues such as demands against non-telcos who may have taken licenses for non-core operations or services.
Sharma was speaking at a digital roundtable organised by ETTelecom and Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (Taipa) where he lauded the telecom industry for its role during the covid crisis during which data and voice consumption has surged, putting pressure on networks. Other participants in the roundtable included Akhil Gupta, chairman of Bharti Infratel, Hans Raj Verma, additional chief secretary, Department of IT, TN, Hari Ranjan Rao, joint secretary, DoT, Tilak Raj Dua, director general at Taipa and Anand Agarwal, group CEO of Sterlite Technologies. The discussions were moderated by Prashant Singhal, TMT emerging markets leader at consultancy firm EY.
Speaking at the discussions, Bharti Infratel’s Gupta called on Trai to accelerate the process of bringing in floor pricing for services, saying only a financially healthy telecom industry would enable a digitally-connected country. “Whatever telcos have done, we were not able to maintain tariff discipline. This (floor pricing consultation) is an extremely important and good step,” Gupta said. But Sharma said the process can’t be speeded up. “CCI (Competition Commission of India), Niti Aayog have opposed and comments have come…we need to conduct an open house,” he said, adding that the regulator has to look international practices before arriving at any conclusion. He further took a potshot at telcos, saying their approach was contradictory. “Telecom service providers are telling us that we are indisciplined… please show us how to be disciplined. On one hand, they talk of light-touch regulation and on the other hand, ask us how we can have a floor price.”
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