India expects to earn 40-50 billion rupees ($840 million to $1 billion) in revenues annually from a higher spectrum fee to be levied on mobile telecoms firms, Telecom Minister A. Raja said on Friday.
On Thursday, a telecoms ministry spokesman had said India planned to charge a fee of 1-2 percent of mobile operators' revenue for using additional airwaves and would also levy a one-time charge for spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz.
The decision is likely to affect all leading telecoms operators, including No. 1 player Bharti Airtel and rivals Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular .
($1=47.8 rupees)
Source:Reuters