(Video) Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) The Big Picture: Telecom Sector: Challenges & Way Forward

Topic: Telecom Sector: Challenges & Way Forward

Guest:

Ganapathy Subramaniam, (Chief of Bureau, Puthiya Thalaimurai)
Manu Seth, (Director, Cellular Mobile Association of India)
Sandeep Aggarwal, (Chairman, Telecom Committee, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry)

Topic Description:

In a setback to telecom service providers, the Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Centre's plea to recover adjusted gross revenue of about Rs 92,000 crore from them. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, upheld the definition of adjusted gross revenue formulated by the Department of Telecom. In July, the Centre had told the apex court that leading private telecom firms like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and state-owned MTNL and BSNL have pending licence fee outstanding of over Rs 92,000 crore till date. Industry body COAI has expressed deep disappointment over the SC ruling and termed it the last straw in contributing to the sector's financial distress. It added that it remains to be seen whether the industry -- which is reeling under a daunting debt of about Rs 4 lakh crore and is in dire financial straits -- will be able to recover from this setback. The bench made it clear that there would no further litigation on the issue and it would fix a time frame for calculation and payment of dues by the telecom companies.