Mobile towers guzzling Rs4,300-cr of diesel subsidy, TEMA tells PM

The Telecom Equipment Manufacturers' Association of India (TEMA) has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying that telecom towers are guzzling up to Rs4,300 crore of the government subsidy on diesel a year, and suggested the levy of a one-time tax on each tower for using subsidised diesel.

It said the dependence on off-grid energy sources such as diesel generators has increased rapidly in telecom towers, and cited a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recommendation on green telecommunications.

''Our submission to the government is to stop subsidising the telecom service operators and telecom tower companies, and instead introduce an appropriate one-time tax per site,'' TEMA honorary director-general Ashok K Aggarwal said in a statement. This would create another source of finance for the exchequer and ensure that service operators and tower firms started adopting power-efficient infrastructure operating on greener source of energy much faster, he added.

Alleging that the subsidy meant for the rural poor, farmers and bulk transport systems was being 'misused', TEMA suggested the one-time tax be levied on all sites owned by mobile operators equivalent to 12 years of subsidy, which amounts to Rs10 lakh per site, to offset, fully or partially, the loss to the exchequer on account of subsidy.

Based on mobile growth figures, TEMA estimated that in the next five years, there would be around eight lakh telecom towers and the dependency on diesel-based generator sets would increase manifold.

''This, in turn, would mean more subsidy support for the telecom service providers,'' Aggarwal said. He referred to TRAI's recommendations on Green Telecommunications, released last year, which indicated that about 8,760 litres of diesel were being consumed annually by each telecom tower site.