Department of Telecom to circulate IMG draft report among stakeholders

Recommendations reportedly include extension of the deferred payment schedule to 16 yrs

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will circulate among all stakeholders the draft report of an inter-ministerial group (IMG) which was formed to address the financial stress of the telecom sector. The DoT will have meetings on August 14 and 16 to finalise the report after which the recommendations will be made.

According to sources, the IMG has recommended extending the deferred payment schedule to 16 years, cut in interest rate, and converting PLR (prime lending rate) into MCLR (marginal cost of funds based lending rate), among other sops for telcos. The IMG has four members including officials from the DoT and