Remove license fee for DTH operators or impose authorisation fee for all, said Bharati Airtel Limited (BAL) in its recent submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regarding its consultation paper on service authorisations for broadcasting services under the Telecom Act, 2023.

Pushing for a same-service-same-rules approach, the telco said in its submission, “Today, in the broadcasting sector’s entire value chain, DTH operators are the only ones subjected to license fees. This creates a non-level playing field and is discriminatory and against the basic premise of government’s endeavor to have a balanced regulatory framework. No License Fee is being paid by other competitors of DTH Operators, such as Cable and HITS operators, despite providing the same set of service to the same market.”

Airtel also pointed out that TRAI had in 2023 acknowledged the need for a level playing field in its recommendations on “License Fee and Policy Matters of DTH Services.” At the time, it suggested a reduction in the DTH license fee from 8 per cent to 3 per cent immediately and then to zero by FY 2026-27. However, the recommendation was not incorporated into the recent Draft DTH License.

Aside from the above recommendation, the telco also suggested additional measures for the interm until the license fee is done away with. Airtel said that the definition of Gross Revenue (GR), Applicable Gross Revenue (ApGR) and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for the telecom sector should be applied to DTH licensees as well. Further, it said that license fee levied on content revenue should be payable by the Broadcaster, who is the ultimate beneficiary, and not the DTH Operator who acts as a distributor.

Earlier in October, it was reported that Airtel plans to buy Tata Play, one of the largest DTH players in India, to get a firm foothold in the digital TV space and a competitive edge against rival companies like Reliance Jio.

Airtel and Jio at loggerheads

In contrast to Airtel’s level-playing argument, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd said in its submissions that a license fee waiver for DTH operators would give a competitive advantage to such service providers.

“For the DTH services that use spectrum at free of cost, it is being proposed to waive off license fee whereas fixed line services, who do not enjoy the same benefits as available to DTH, are required to pay license fee to Government. Furthermore, in wireless domain, the mobile operators providing IPTV/content services are required to procure spectrum through auctions and pay spectrum usage charges and license fee also. Any move to waive or reduce the license fee for DTH would only exacerbate this disparity, further skewing the competitive balance in favour of DTH,” said Jio.

Regarding recommendations of reduction in license fee for DTH, Jio said that the suggestions fail to consider the competitive advantages granted to DTH over fixed-line, Cable TV services and mobile services, particularly due to the allocation of free spectrum.

It may be noted that Airtel had flagged similar concerns of satcom users having an edge over legacy telcos during TRAI’s discussions on spectrum allocation.

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