(a) whether the Government has any plans to bailout the loss making telecom companies from financial crisis and if so, the details thereof;
(b) the time period for which the companies has been exempted by the Government for paying Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR);
(c) the number of officials of BSNL who have opted for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) during the recent years; and
(d) whether the Government proposes to allot 5G spectrum to BSNL and if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS
(SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)
(a) & (b) The government has recently approved various reform measures to reduce financial stress in the Telecom Sector inter-alia including:
i. Rationalization of Definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue.
ii. Moratorium/Deferment of up to four years in annual payments of dues arising out of the AGR judgement and spectrum purchased in past auctions.
iii. Option to the TSPs to pay the interest amount arising due to the said deferment of payment by way of equity.
iv. Reduction in BG requirements to 20% of the stipulated amount against License Fee (LF) and other similar Levies.
v. Reduction in BG requirements (80%) against License Fee (LF) and other similar Levies.
vi. Removal of levy of Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC) on the spectrum to be acquired in future auctions.
vii. Removal of requirement for submitting a Financial Bank Guarantee (FBG) to securitize the annual deferred spectrum instalments in future.
viii. Increasing the validity period of spectrum acquisition in future auctions from 20 to 30 years.
(c) Government on 23.10.2019 approved the revival plan of BSNL and MTNL including Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) as one of the measures. Resultantly, 78,569 officials of BSNL opted for Voluntary Retirement Scheme-2019.
(d) Cabinet also approved to administratively allot spectrum to BSNL/MTNL for providing 5G services, spectrum for maintaining current operations and future services on the same principle as adopted for allotment of spectrum for 4G services. The spectrum for 5G services has not been allotted to any Telecom Service Provider so far.
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