Centre has vast powers to resolve telecom woes: COAI

A day after the Supreme Court rapped the telecom department and companies over non-compliance of its order on payment of statutory dues, COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said it is up to individual members (companies) to see how they would interpret and comply with the SC order.

“We continue to believe that government has vast powers and options to address the issues of the sector even in the light of the SC order,” Mathews said. Meanwhile, after UP (West) and Rajasthan, the DoT’s field offices in circles of Gujarat, UP (East), West Bengal and others zones have directed telecom companies to pay up outstanding dues “immediately” failing which action would be initiated based on provisions of licence agreement “without any further notice”.

A notice issued by UP (East) circle to telecom operators said the office of Controller of Communication Accounts will remain open on February 15 to facilitate payment of statutory dues by the companies.

Mathews said while COAI sees plenty of opportunity for mobile operators to flourish, enabling policies and regulations will be key to this. Citing COAI’s position that the industry has to move quickly to a Rs 300 ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) level to maintain its financial health, Mathews said that the SC order only makes this imperative “more urgent.”

“We have stated before that present tariffs are inadequate to sustain the financial health of the sector and the industry has to move quickly to a Rs 300 ARPU number to maintain its financial health. The SC order only makes this imperative even more urgent,” Mathews said.