Ravi Shankar Prasad asks Fin Min to hasten I-T refund to BSNL
By Kalyan Parbat, ET Bureau | 19 Sep, 2014, 01.08PM IST
KOLKATA:
Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has exhorted the finance ministry
to hasten a pending Rs 7,000-crore income tax refund to Bharat Sanchar
Nigam (BSNL) in a bid to revive the struggling state-run telecom company
before its proposed merger with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) next
year.
In
parallel, the Telecom Commission (TC) is taking steps to arrange an
early Rs 6,794 crore refund for BSNL's surrendered 4G airwaves coupled
along with a waiver of microwave charges incurred
annually by the state-run telco. At present, BSNL shells out nearly Rs
100 crore as royalty annually to DoT's wireless planning cell (WPC) to
provide microwave connectivity across the Northeast. TC is the highest
decision making body in the DoT.
In
the immediate term, Garg has asked member (finance) in the Telecom
Commission to clear the refund of BSNL's licence fees and spectrum usage
charges relating to its surrendered 4G airwaves at the earliest since
the telco has only been refunded Rs 100 crore in 2014-15. This is after
BSNL Chairman & Managing Director AN Rai, who was present at the
review meeting, said the "refund was pending despite Cabinet approval
earlier this year."
The
Cabinet had cleared a refund upwards of Rs 11,000 crore for BSNL and
MTNL for their surrendered broadband wireless access (BWA 4G) spectrum.
BSNL has relinquished its 4G airwaves in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kolkata,
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
DoT
is also exploring ways to boost BSNL's revenue flows by leasing its
countrywide tower assets. BSNL has 73,000 towers and currently earns a
modest Rs 98 crore annually by leasing merely 3000 units.
