The Hindu Business Line : To meet administrative expenses — TRAI seeks percentage of licence fee from Govt

THE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked the Government to give it financial autonomy by allowing it to have certain percentage of annual licence fee paid by the telecom service providers and cable operators to meet its administrative expenditure.

In a recommendation given to the Government, the telecom regulator said that such a move would enable TRAI to meet its recurring expenditure and also have a provision for capital expenditure. "This will make TRAI independent of Government funding," it said. The regulator has suggested earmarking 0.05 per cent of the annual revenues earned by the Government from telecom services for the purpose.

The revenue base of the telecom service providers is about Rs 55,000 crore and those of the cable service providers is about Rs 15,000 crore. At present, all expenditure of TRAI is met through the grants from the Government of India. The TRAI Act provides for constitution of a TRAI General Fund in which the grants received from the Government and other receipts in the form of fees and charges, if any, are to be credited.

"The TRAI Act provides legal authority to TRAI to frame regulations for levying fees and charges as a source to generate its own fund. In several countries, the source of revenue for the telecom regulatory authorities is mostly the licence fees, spectrum fee, numbering fee and regulatory fees," TRAI said in a statement.

The regulator had earlier floated a similar proposal with the Finance Ministry a few years ago. It has pointed out that other regulatory authorities such as the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) derive their revenue through cess and fees.

"SEBI and IRDA are self-sustaining in the sense that they are able to generate adequate amount of revenue by virtue of the financial autonomy available to them. TRAI has also asked the Government to provide similar financial autonomy to it," it said.

More Stories on : Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | Telecommunications

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
ARPU of cellular firms stabilising

BPL Mobile offers special prepaid plan for students in Mumbai

Pixma range of inkjet printers from Canon India

Blu-ray Disc may enter market by next year

`Bush win will ensure continuity'

Belgium co to offer training in IP rights

Patni completes Cymbal buy

To meet administrative expenses — TRAI seeks percentage of licence fee from Govt

NCR customer care centre

S. India tea auctions may go fully electronic by next month

`NDS gilt trading must be under RBI watch' — Panel seeks screen-based order matching system

Reliance Infocomm launches broadband centres in Mangalore

`Indian cos must focus on domestic market'

S&P chooses Hyderabad for back-office operations