Industry association COAI has sent out a distress signal to the government seeking easier terms for payment of statutory dues by telcos, including extension of loans at lower rates to cover AGR liabilities and faster implementation of floor prices, to rescue the troubled sector.

With the telecom industry plunging into an unprecedented crisis, the association has raised an alarm over banks’ unwillingness to take any risk with regard to the sector, and asserted the “need to give a clear message to banks that the government is there to support the sector”.

“Banks are unwilling to take any risk for the telecom sector and are constantly asking telecom service providers to reduce their exposures by refusing to issue new bank guarantees or even to renew bank guarantees,” COAI director-general Rajan Mathews has said in a letter to telecom secretary Anshu Prakash.

In a similar letter, Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has told the government that it is unable to pay the Supreme Court mandated Rs 53,000-crore dues.

VIL has sought a three-year moratorium and an adjustment of a Rs 8,000-crore GST refund against the payment of the remaining amount.

The company has also demanded fixing the minimum tariff for mobile data at Rs 35 per GB, around 7-8 times of current prices, and for calls at 6 paise per minute along with monthly charges from April 1 to make its business sustainable. “There are a number of demands that Vodafone Idea has put across to the government for its survival. The company wants the minimum price of data should be fixed at Rs 35 per gigabyte and minimum monthly connection charge at Rs 50 from April 1, 2020,” an official said.

Key meeting

The letters come ahead of a meeting of the Digital Communications Commission (DCC), the highest decision making authority in the DoT, which is likely to meet on Friday to discuss the relief measures for the statutory adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of telecom companies, officials said.

Among the options likely to be deliberated on Friday is a move to allow staggered payments for statutory dues for the telecom industry.

The DoT sources said a lot would also depend on companies such as Vodafone Idea making additional payments as the amount received so far from the company is only 7 per cent of the DoT-calculated AGR dues of Rs 53,000 crore.