DoT mulls licence fee cut

The Department of Telecom has reiterated its proposal to levy a uniform six per cent licence fee from all mobile and telecom operators.

The Department of Telecom has reiterated its proposal to levy a uniform six per cent licence fee from all mobile and telecom operators irrespective of the circles in which they operate.

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The Department had mooted the idea first three months ago through a circular, which had laid down the objective of putting a uniform licence fee of six per cent instead of the current slots of 10 per cent, eight per cent and six per cent, levied on the basis of the circles in which the licencee operates.

The highest licence fee of 10 per cent was for category A circles like metros, DoT said.

The Telecom Commission had not earlier taken up the proposal when it was made three months ago, a reason why it has been revived. However, the entire process was still at a very preliminary stage, the DoT said.

The DoT has to also get the Finance Ministry's approval before the proposed reduction could actually happen. Earlier, DoT had reduced the licence fee and revenue share for NLD and ILD licence.