Telcos have witnessed falls in revenue due to falling tariff, says Sinha

Telecom Minister, Manoj Sinha has informed Rajya Sabha on Friday, that telecom operators are facing decline in revenue due to falling tariff .

As of now, there is no delay in spectrum payment to the government, and all the deferred payment dues of 2012, 2013 and 2014 auctions have been realised by their respective due dates," he said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, PTI reported.

He said, "Telecom operators have witnessed falls in revenue due to falling tariff. The decline in revenue impacts their capacity to invest, and delay in spectrum payment can happen," report added.

The tariffs are set by regulator TRAI, he said. There has been no default in repayment of loans by telecom service providers so far, Sinha further added.

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To recall, former, Telecom 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 losses Rs 800 crore revenues.

"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.

Telecom Commission has also asked telecom regulator TRAI to implement orders on promotional mobile tariffs in "letter and spirit" and review existing rules to ensure financial growth of the industry.

As per India Ratings and Research, the telecom industry has lost about 20 percent of revenue due to Reliance Jio's free services.