The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has rejected the request made by the telecom operators for not charging licence fee and spectrum usage charge (SUC) on the amount received from trading of spectrum. The move comes after the telecom associations, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI), approached DoT on this matter.

According to the draft guidelines released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the amount received from trading of spectrum shall be a part of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) for the purpose of calculating licence fee and SUC.  The telecom operators, however, are of the view this would amount to double taxation as the levies are being charged in addition to levies paid on the usage of spectrum. This, the operators feel, would deter spectrum trading and make spectrum trading transactions unviable.

Meanwhile, DoT had also sought Ministry of Finance’s opinion on the impact on telecom operators’ finances if proceeds of spectrum trading are included in their adjusted gross revenues (AGR).