Telecom sector disappointed at unchanged GST rate, says customers will be affected

Industry body COAI today said it is disappointed with GST rate for telecom services remaining unchanged at 18 per cent.

The Cellular Operators Association of India which has Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio as members - has been pushing for lowering of Goods and Services Tax, or GST rate, for telecom services to five per cent in sync with essential services.

The debt-ridden industry has been saying that benefit of input credit is not enough to fully compensate the higher tax incidence in the new regime, and that telecom services are bound to become expensive for consumers once the new rates come into effect.

At present, telecom consumers are charged 15 per cent in form of tax and cess over their phone bills.

"We are disappointed that there has been no change in the GST rate for telecom, which is an essential service. It will increase the cost to consumers," COAI director-general, Rajan S Mathews told