Revenue-linked spectrum charges worries Net firms

Terming any move to link spectrum usage charges to the revenue as “disastrous”, ISP Association of India on Sunday said it plans to approach Telecom minister Manoj Sinha and also telecom secretary to express its concern over the latest consultation paper by Trai.

“We are going to make a representation to the Telecom minister and Telecom secretary this week and seek a meeting with them to voice our concerns,” ISP Association of India (ISPAI) president, Rajesh Chharia said.

TRAI sought public feedback on levying spectrum usage charges linked to annual revenues for ISPs, something similar to the norms for mobile firms.

The move could potentially push up broadband costs for consumers as ISPs currently pay “formula-based spectrum charges”. As per Mr Chharia, the formula-based spectrum charges work out to Rs 7.2 lakh for 6MHz spectrum for one year.

“We are opposed to Trai’s proposal of imposing SUC linked to revenue. Also it is not clear as to which revenue it will be linked to...the revenue derived from that spectrum or the entire revenue, which also involves our optical fibre backbone. SUC should not be linked to our entire revenue” Chharia said.

Currently, the providers with Cellular Mobile Telephone Services and Unified Access Service Licence are assigned spectrum through auction.

They pay spectrum usage charge (SUC) on the basis of percentage of their gross revenue called AGR.