COAI urges licence fee cut, says telcos face double burden of AGR payments

Telecom industry body COAI on Thursday sought abolition or reduction of AGR-related fees for telcos at the earliest and pitched for lowering licence fee to 0.5-1 per cent of gross revenues.

COAI argued that with the separation of spectrum from the license and its assignment at market price, the justification for imposing licence fee had ceased to exist long back.

The license fee should “at best” cover the cost of administration of the license only, which is around 0.5 per cent to 1 per cent of the gross revenues, instead of the 8 per cent paid currently.