Indian telecom firms too want fair share of revenues from internet companies

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : Indian telecom companies are lobbying the government to get large internet and streaming platforms to pay up for using their infrastructure, taking cues from international markets where such arrangements are beginning to take shape. A leading telecom industry body has written to the finance ministry claiming that the government was forgoing about ₹800 crore in potential annual revenue from licence fees and other levies from telcos if such an arrangement was in place. “All we’re saying is that please recognize that this payment has to be made, that the government recognizes that this requirement is there, and make both parties sit at the table and negotiate with each other," said S.P.

Kochhar, director general of the Cellular Operators Association of India. “Government need only be an arbiter that only intervenes if the parties can’t come to a conclusion." COAI, which represents private Indian carriers including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Idea Ltd, has written a letter on the demand addressed to Union finance secretary T.V. Somanathan, apart from a white paper.

Mint has seen both. In the white paper, COAI has stated that telecom companies had spent about ₹10,000 crore in additional capital expenditure over 2022-2023 to enhance their infrastructure to support 4-5 large traffic generating platforms or apps, without naming them. While these platforms benefitted from the increased infrastructure, corresponding monetary accruals haven’t flowed to the telcos and consequently to the government, COAI said.