The Hindu Business Line : Telcos want refund of excess ADC

PRIVATE telecom operators have urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to refund the excess amount paid in the form of Access Deficit Charges (ADC) to State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

Telecom operators have indicated that the industry has paid Rs 3,000 crore more than what was initially targeted as ADC for funding rural telephony.

While TRAI had initially estimated that the total ADC collection would be just over Rs 5,000 crore, in reality the amount has crossed Rs 8,000 crore due to a steep increase in traffic.

"There has been excess collection of ADC by the incumbent and we find no laid down procedure or method for assessing this excess amount of ADC, precise quantum of ADC that needs to be recovered remains unknown. By rough industry calculations, it is estimated that BSNL so far collected net surplus amount to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore over and above Rs 5,340 crore as determined by the Authority," said the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers (AUSPI) in a letter to TRAI.

Operators have also urged the telecom regulator to take into account additional amount collected by BSNL before deciding the quantum in the new ADC regime.

"Since the remaining deficit is likely to be low, ADC recovery should also be fixed accordingly ," AUSPI said.

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