Telcos call for tax relief under GST; raise OTT, infra issues with Trai

Also raised app-based calling, infrastructure expansion woes, that are adversely impacting their business

Telecom operators in their meeting with regulator Trai on Tuesday raised multiple pain points, including app-based calling, rationalisation of taxes and infrastructure expansion woes, that are adversely impacting their business.

"We had very fruitful discussion with industry players. They were unanimous on some of the issues that Trai should deal with in this year like OTT (over-the-top) consultation, one country one licence, infrastructure related issues, rationalisation of taxes under GST ... There were six to seven issues that they want the regulator to look into," Trai Chairman R S Sharma told reporters after the meeting.

Telecom operators also called for a spectrum policy to make the industry aware in advance about the auction of frequency bands, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman said.

"They will give us details of the issues in a couple of days after which Trai will be able to share specific roadmap," Sharma said.

The Trai chairman said that telecom operators also asked for consultation around mobile number portability and unsolicited commercial calls.

Talking about call drop report, Sharma said, "We will publish their performance report by the end of this month."

The reports may have come under the new quality of service norms and the regulator will compile the performance reports based on that data.