Telecom Industry Demands Licence Fee Cut, GST Relief in Budget 2026

• India's top telecom operators seek significant fiscal relief in Union Budget 2026-27 to fund 5G expansion and network upgrades.
• COAI proposes reducing licence fees to 0.5%-1% of AGR from the current 3%, arguing it covers administrative costs and eases cash-flow pressures.
• The industry body urges suspension of additional contributions to Digital Bharat Nidhi until the existing corpus is fully utilized.
• COAI recommends GST reforms, including exempting licence fees, SUC, and auctioned spectrum payments from GST, or reducing GST to 5% under reverse charge.
• The industry emphasizes that rationalization of levies and GST burdens is crucial for sustaining capital expenditure and India's digital transformation.

Why It Matters: Telecom industry seeks licence fee and GST relief to boost 5G rollout and digital infrastructure investment.