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 the finance ministry.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has already reviewed the report. Last week Communications Minister Manoj Sinha had said the report would be out in 20 days.  

On the issue of interconnect usage charges, the IMG is of the view that the decision taken by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) would be final.

The stress in the telecom sector intensified in recent months after Reliance Jio launched its services last September with deep discounts and free services. The outstanding debt in the telecom industry is pegged at Rs 4.5 lakh crore, incurred mainly on account of payments for spectrum, and other levies.