Reportedly the revenue from the telecom sector to the government has seen a seven per cent drop in fiscal 2019, rajya sabha was told on Thursday. Meanwhile the Communications Ministry said in a written reply in the rajya sabha "As per the information available with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of india (TRAI), the Adjusted Gross Revenue for the telecom service sector stood at Rs 1,44,681 crore in 2018-19 as against Rs 1,55,680 crore in 2017-18, thereby showing a decrease of 7.06%".
Furthermore "The decline in the Adjusted Gross Revenue is not sufficient to conclude below cost pricing by the telecom service providers." Meanwhile the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) has come down from Rs 124.85 in 2017-18 to Rs 71.39 in march 2019. Perhaps in another reply, minister ravi shankar prasad said the Department of Telecom has held a number of meetings with the Telecom service Providers in the recent past, regarding the issues faced by the Telecom Sector.
Accordingly a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) chaired by cabinet Secretary also considered issues related to the Telecom Sector. Moreover based on the recommendations of the CoS, the government has permitted deferment of the payment of the spectrum auction instalments due for 2020-21 and 2021-22 for mitigating the financial stress being faced by the telecom services Sector, whereby, Department of Telecommunications will give an option to the Telecom service Providers to defer payment of the spectrum auction instalments due for 2020-21 and 2021-22, either for one or both years.
