Govt sets up interministerial panel to address financial crisis in the telecom sector: Reports

To address the financial woes in the telecom sector, the Government has set up an interministerial panel.

The panel will have three months to submit the report on the same, ET reported. Adding that the committee is likely to have six to eight members.

According to the report, the suggestion will first be submitted to the telecom ministry after that it will send it to Finance Ministry and if needed then it might go to cabinet.

To recall former Telecom Secretary JS Deepak has written a letter to Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) of India asking it to restrict the period of 'promotional offers' by telecom players, as the government loses Rs. 800 crore revenue.

Paytm Movies aims to contribute 50% online share of opening weekends by end-2017

"There appears to be an urgent need to revisit and review its tariff orders in the larger interest of the government revenues as well as the telecom sector," Deepak has written in his letter on February 23 to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma. The letter also explains how the government revenues from just the license fee have fallen from Rs. 3,975 crore in the June quarter to Rs. 3186 crore in the December quarter of the current financial year.

Cellular Operators Association of India ( COAI) has recently said that the Government should address "utmost urgency" the financial crisis in the telecom industry.

Rajan in a recent interview to GizBot also mentioned that the new offer by the Jio will continue to eat the revenue stream and is going to have a cascading impact on Government revenue, payments to banks as well as equipment manufacturers and service providers to the industry.

The sector is in under pressure due to increasing pressure after the entry Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio and a debt of about Rs. 4.6 lakh crore.