INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Expectations for government help and plans by carriers to raise prices sparked a rally in telecom sharesThe government will defer spectrum
payments due from telecommunications companies for two years to help an industry ravaged by a years-long price war, mounting debt and a
court decision last month demanding $13 billion in overdue fees.The moratorium will be for two years beginning April 2020, Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters after a cabinet meeting in New Delhi on Wednesday
Interest as stipulated in airwave auctions will continue to be paid, she said.The proposal was recommended by a panel of senior bureaucrats
under Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help wireless carriers the government estimates owe more than $20 billion in license fees and spectrum
The relief will be worth as much as Rs 45,000 crore ($6.3 billion) and the panel will continue to discuss other measures to help the
industry, an official told reporters.PM Modi intends to help preserve the survivors in a telecommunications industry that has shrunk from a
dozen wireless operators a couple of years back to just three private-sector firms
Carriers that had flocked to the country's fast-growing market were led to merge or quit the business after Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.,
led by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, spurred an intense price war at its launch in 2016.The relief on fees comes after Vodafone Idea Ltd
posted the worst quarterly loss in India's corporate history earlier this month and Bharti Airtel Ltd
logged a record deficit for the September quarter
Jio, which overtook both companies and became the top carrier by subscribers this year, had argued against government action to help
Vodafone Group Plc's Indian venture and Bharti, which is backed by billionaire Sunil Mittal and Singapore Telecommunications
Ltd.Expectations for government help and plans by carriers to raise prices sparked a rally in shares of Vodafone Idea, which more than
doubled in price over the past four trading days in Mumbai
Bharti also climbed, while Jio parent Reliance Industries Ltd
jumped to a record.The two-year moratorium follows requests by both companies for relief after the Supreme Court ordered the nation's
carriers to pay about $13 billion combined, mostly license and spectrum fees
The ruling was over a years-long dispute about how the fees should be calculated, leaving the amounts due to accumulate over the years
The court decision left Vodafone Idea owing about $4 billion and Bharti about $3 billion, while Jio was stuck with a bill of only $130
million, given it started in 2016.Get Breaking news, live coverage, and Latest News from India and around the world on
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