The Cabinet is likely to decide next month on the relief package for the telecom sector, based on the recommendations of an inter-ministerial group, including giving more time to telecom operators to make payment for spectrum and increasing the holding limit of radiowaves.
“The Cabinet is likely to take up the issue of IMG recommendations in March,” said an official source. The DoT's apex decision making body, the Telecom Commission, has cleared some of the key recommendations made by IMG formed to chalk out relief measures for the debt-ridden sector.
The sector's debt is estimated to be around Rs 4.6 lakh crore and decline in the margins of telecom companies due to stiff competition in the market is said to have pushed it to financial stress.
The Commission had approved extension of time period for the payment of spectrum bought in auctions by operators to 16 years from the current 10 years. It had also approved the IMG recommendation to lower the interest rate on penalties paid by telecom operators by about 2 per cent.
last month, the panel concurred with sectoral regulator TRAI's suggestion to raise spectrum holding limit of mobile operators which will ease the exit route for those under stress.