Telecom Industry Seeks Reduction in Licence Fees and Regulatory Levies Ahead of Budget

The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has urged the government to reduce telecom regulatory levies, including cutting the licence fee from 3% of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to between 0.5% and 1% in the upcoming budget. COAI also recommended pausing contributions to the Digital Bharat Nidhi until the existing corpus is fully utilized and called for GST exemptions and rate reductions to alleviate financial pressures on telecom operators and support network expansion.