DoT to levy 3% licence fee on 3G mobile operators

Government has decided to impose an annual licence fee of three per cent of revenue on the those mobile operators, who will offer 3G services on stand-alone basis, Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura said.

In a meeting today, Department of Telecom (DoT) took the decision that existing 2G players, who would also offer 3G services, would have to pay one per cent of their total revenue to the government as revenue share, Telecom Secretary Siddhartha Behura, who is also the Chairman of Telecom Commission, today said.

The Commission, however, did not take any decision on the one-time spectrum enhancement charge on 2G radio waves.

In another development, the Commission is learnt to have approved the DoT proposal to slap one per cent additional spectrum usage charges for radio waves below 8 MHz and two per cent above 8 MHz. This would be effective from January 1, 2009, Behura said.

At present, the operators pay 2-6 per cent of spectrum usage charges, which would now become 3-8 per cent from January 2009.

One-time spectrum fee has been deferred for the time-being.