Jagmohan defends duty roll-back

Former finance minister P Chidambaram had reduced the duty on these telecom equipment from 55 per cent to 22 per cent to encourage the growth of telecom industry in the country.

Jagmohan said he had assessed the pros and cons of the move and it was in the best interest of the nation since the government should do something to protect the indigenous industry as well.

When pointed out that the power industry received zero duty import concessions by the same notification, Jagmohan said he was not aware of the situation of the power industry. Duty concessions withdrawn was five per cent basic duty, 0.5 per cent special duty and 16 per cent ad valorem totalling 22.5 per cent customs duty.

Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO) had termed the move as a "last nail in the basic telecom coffin" and said the entire approach of the government over the past few months was aimed at ensuring there was no competition to department of telecommunications.

The duty change is expected to hit six private basic service operators such as Bharti Telenet, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Telecom, Aircell Digilink, Hughes Ispat and Telelink.

On show-cause notices issued to a few licence fee defaulters for termination of licenses Jagmohan said there was no decision to extend the deadline after the 30-day period expired on Saturday.

He said government was seized of the matter and further decisions would be taken after analysing the details. On shifting the existing licence holders from licence fee systems to revenue sharing pattern, he said Attorney General (AG) has not yet given his opinion on the issue and a final decision depended on AG’s View. "AG is expected to give his views very soon," he added.