The government expects Rs 50,519.81 crore revenue mop-up from the telecom sector in the current fiscal year (2019-20), without budgeting in the spectrum auction proceeds.
During the interim Budget in February, non-tax revenues from the communication sector for this fiscal was set at Rs 41,519 crore.
In 2018-19, the revenues from the telecom sector stood at Rs 39,245 crore, lower than what was Budgeted at Rs 48,661.42 crore. Revenues mainly come from licence fees and spectrum usage charges levied on the telecom players.
Telecom sector is reeling under the financial stress and the revenues from the sector are on a downward spiral since the entry of a new player, Reliance Jio, in the industry. The total debt of the telecom industry stands at around Rs 7.8 lakh crore.
The industry had been demanding a rationalisation of levies on the telecom sector but no relief has been provided in the Budget.
“They (Department of Telecommunications) are still working on it (spectrum auction), so we have not taken it into account in the budget,” Department of Economic Affairs Secretary S C Garg said, according to an agency report.
Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had announced that the government will conduct a spectrum auction, including 5G spectrum, in this calendar year.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Budget, also said to bridge the rural-urban digital divide. BharatNet is targeting internet connectivity in local bodies in every panchayat in the country. “This will be speeded up with the assistance of universal service obligation fund (USOF) under the public-private partnership.”
Through BharatNet, the government plans to connect all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats through an optical fibre to offer high-speed internet by March 2020. As per the available data, around Rs 50,554 crore was available in the USOF at the end of May 2019.
Under BharatNet, which is fully funded by the USOF, over 3.33 lakh km optical fibre cable has been laid to connect over 1.28 lakh gram panchayats as on May 30.
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