Swachh Bharat cess to hit telcos, tariff to rise

New Delhi: The Cabinet is reported to have asked the telecom department to look into the possibility of imposing a Swachh Bharat cess on spectrum charges paid annually by telecom service providers.The telecom minister is said to have been asked to bring a proposal for its consideration by January 15. The money raised will be added to the Swachh Bharat fund.  

This would put pressure on the already strained balance sheet of the telecom operators. The government is also looking at the feasibility of imposing Swachh Bharat cess on various other sectors as well. Recently the finance ministry has increased excise duty on petrol and diesel to fund building of 15,000 kms of roads, during current and next financial year.

The government had set up a Swachh Bharat Kosh to pursue the Swachh Bharat campaign, a pet project of the Prime minister Narendra Modi. It has been set up to facilitate channelisation of philanthropic contributions and corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds towards this cause.

Swachh Bharat Kosh would be administered by a governing council chaired by secretary, department of expenditure. The telecom service providers jointly paid spectrum usage charge (SUC) of Rs 6,114 crore in 2013-14.

The cabinet has also asked the telecom department to give a proposal to notify dedicated spectrum for Defence forces as ‘Defence Band (DB) and Defence Interest Zone (DIZ)’. According to officials, defence has said that it will release more 3G spectrum as demanded by telecom operators once DB and DIZ are notified. The telecom operators have been demanding to release more spectrum for the forthcoming auction.