EGoM on telecom fails to take final call on one-time fee

The empowered group of ministers (EGoM) on telecom, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, which met today, failed to take a decision on the contentious issue of one-time fee on spectrum held by operators. After an hour-long meeting, the group of ministers assured a decision would be taken on October 8, when they would meet again.

“All the issues were discussed threadbare. We will have another meeting on October 8, when final decisions would be taken,” Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal said after the meeting. He assured that decisions on all pending issues, such as one-time fee, would be taken by the EGoM by October 8. In July, the Cabinet had referred the matter to EGoM.

Later, it deferred a decision till the outcome of the Presidential reference. The government is now free to take a decision after the Supreme Court said auction was not the only way to allocate natural resources.

The DoT had made four proposals to the Cabinet on one-time fee — no charge; levy a one-time fee on all airwaves held by telecom companies; impose a fee on airwaves held beyond the start-up spectrum of 4.4 MHz; or levy a fee on airwaves held beyond the contracted spectrum of 6.2 MHz.