Hyderabad: Speaking exclusively with ETV Bharat renowned telecom expert Dr T Hanuman Chowdary said the act of collecting spectrum fees by the government from telecom companies is immoral.
His thoughts assume significance as the union government preparing the ground for the auction of 5G spectrum by end of this year or early 2020.
Hanuman Chowdary, who is also the founding Chairman and Managing Director of VSNL which was a government entity for international telecom services, said since telecom companies create the spectrum that government in no authority has the right to auction it.
“At best, the central government can collect the spectrum usage fee as it is regulating which telecom company should use which spectrum band”, he said.
“Due to the Government's greed for money, it is auctioning the spectrum. The Charges may be legal but it is absolutely immoral", Chowdary said.
AGR Issue
Speaking on the current Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) issue, Chowdary said while the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) favoured the telecom companies, it was the government that appealed to the Supreme Court for change in the order.
In its recent judgment, the apex court had upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-telecommunication businesses in calculating the annual AGR of telecom companies.
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The order created panic among the major telecom companies of the country including Vodafone-Idea and Bharti Airtel.
Since the order has to comply within three months the telcos had to provision thousands of crores that reflected badly in their balance sheets.
For instance, Vodafone Idea posted Rs 50,921 crore loss for the September quarter, which is the biggest for an Indian company. The company stated that its survival in India depends on the government’s help.
Reviving BSNL and MTNL
With his experience, Chowdary said it is always better to wind up the BSNL and MTNL and make way for fair competition among private players in the telecom market. It should be noted that he initiated the privatisation of VSNL which was bought by Tata Group.
Recently, the government announced a revival package worth Rs 74,000 crore for both the firms that pay for a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and other expenses.
What is the best model?
“As in the US, the basic infrastructure like fibre optic cables should be owned by the government and the services should be provided by private players”, opined the industry veteran.
For Dr T Hanuman Chowdary’s in-depth insights on the reasons for the crisis in the telecom sector watch the video.
