PM review asks DoT to check if data can be taxed; wants BSNL to trim staff
Mint.Other action points listed in the minutes include: trimming state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)'s workforce, securing national networks, a roadmap for component localisation, and resolving issues in the undersea cable industry. SIM cards should be issued only on the basis of Aadhaar cards after biometric verification, it noted.Most countries tax income of companies that have data at the core of their business or some try to reduce screen usage in other ways with restrictions on timings of gaming services or age of consumers."Any kind of taxes on data usage would be impossible to implement.
The same could also cause disruption for users in the country and limit innovation," said Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at Trai, short for Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.Such a tax may bring down the country from the leadership position in the emerging domain, he added.DoT has been asked to come up with a model for taxing data by 30 September 2026.
The government in its Economic Survey 2026 had flagged the growing spread of digital addiction among children.The data taxation proposal also assumes significance as the government has been looking to diversify its revenue stream from the telecom sector which is dependent on spectrum auctions and licence fee from phone service operators. Users also pay an 18% goods and services tax (GST) on the mobile recharges.According to DoT, the mobile data usage in the country stood at about 229 billion GB in FY25.
A levy of Re 1 per GB, for instance, could bring in ₹22,900 crore of revenue for the government.The 7 January meeting, reviewed the progress of the telecom sector for the period FY2024-25. Besides the prime minister, the meeting was attended by communications
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