GSM to pay 10,000 cr as spectrum usage charge

New Delhi, Aug 3: The GSM industry will pay over Rs 10,000 crore as spectrum usage charges to the Government over the next three years due to high charge for the additional spectrum, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said today.

Out of the total amount, about Rs 6,000 crore will be on account of the incremental charges for additional spectrum.

''If the present rates were to continue, the GSM industry would pay over Rs 10,000 crore as spectrum usage charges to the Government over the next three years alone,'' the COAI Director General TV Ramachandran said.

Refuting the allegations that additional spectrum is being given away free to the GSM operators, Mr Ramachandran said, ''GSM operators are paying an extremely high charge for the additional spectrum that is allotted to them.'' Based on actual data collected, it had been estimated that the GSM industry had already paid an extra Rs 1,800 crore due to additional allotments of spectrum, he said, adding that Rs 1,800 crore was over and above the base two per cent spectrum usage charge paid by the industry to the Government.

Instead of having lost Rs 1,800 crore, the Government has actually received an additional Rs 1,800 crore till date on account of escalated charges applied by them for spectrum usage, Mr Ramachandran said.

In an analysis carried out in the case on a large GSM operator in the national capital, it had been estimated that the said operator, could during the tenure of his license and as per the presently applicable rates, pay the Government as much as Rs 1,700 crore as charges for spectrum usage.

UNI