DoT has called a joint meeting with the Cellular Operators Association of India (Coai) and the Association of Basic Telecom Operators (ABTO) on Wednesday to discuss the revenue-sharing package. The 15 per cent revenue share proposal mentioned in the cabinet note was confirmed by information and broadcasting minister and Government's spokesperson Pramod Mahajan to reporters after the cabinet meeting. However, DoT officials subsequently denied that any specific percentage was cleared by theCabinet.

DoT's final recommendation on the percentage of revenue share is likely to be forwarded to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) later this week after discussions with private operators.

The Trai on its part is likely to take more than two months time to finalise the recommendations. Trai has already invited Coai and ABTO to present their point of view this week itself. The regulator will also hold open house sessions and issue a consultation paper on the issue before taking the final decision. DoT wants operators to pay 25 per cent as revenue share to the department to defray the losses arising out of the switch-over and the six-month extension in effective date of licence period granted to all operators.

Telecom industry circles, on the other hand, say that their demand for a maximum 5 per cent revenue share is fully justified. "World over the quantum of revenue share ranges from a low of 0.6 per cent in Sri Lanka to 4 per cent in certain European countries," said a telecomoperator.

There are a number of other issues involved in revenue sharing. Operators will raise issues like whether the revenue share would include the inter-connection charges the cellular operators owe to MTNL or department of telecommunications.

Added to this, industry is critical of the feasibility of an across the board levy, without taking into account the differences between metro, non-metro and basic circles. With some favouring a differential revenue sharing arrangement based on circle wise features, the DoT is known to have taken the stance that a multi-tier arrangement would be difficult to administer and would create an uneven playing field. The entire revenue-sharing took another twist last week when President KR Narayanan summoned previous communications minister Jagmohan to brief him on the telecom package.