Cabinet approves one time spectrum fee; telecom stocks up

The Union Cabinet has approved the recent decision by an inter-ministerial panel to impose a one-time spectrum charge on all mobile phone companies. The approval is likely to fetch the government a sum in excess of Rs 30,0000 crores, though it would have to folk amounts for government owned entities including BSNL and MTNL.

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) had recently decided to impose a one-time spectrum charge on all existing operators.

According to news reports the Cabinet has also approved the EGoM's recommendation of levying a surcharge on operators with more than 6.2 MHz as per 2001-indexed price (Rs 1,658 crore) for four years beginning 2008.

Shares of telecom operators were trading higher following the news and despite weak market sentiments. Idea Cellular was up 1.59%, Bharti Airtel gained, while Reliance Communications was trading higher by 0.43%.

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