MPs flag underassessment of revenue by DoT, public grievances with telecom firms at PAC meeting

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) Some MPs at a parliamentary meeting on Tuesday flagged the issue of poor telecom coverage in remote and border areas, especially by private operators, and called for strengthening the public behemoth BSNL as top officials from the government and service providers appeared before it, sources said.

The Public Accounts Committee, headed by Congress MP K C Venugopal, met to discuss a CAG audit report on "revenue sharing by telecom service providers with government”.

"We thoroughly discussed the issues related to common public grievances," he said after the meeting without elaborating. Sources, however, added that among the issues raised was the poor telecom coverage in remote and border areas, especially by private operators who dominate the market.

"They actually grilled the telecom operators about the frequent criticism of their services, including call drop, from the public," a source said, adding some members highlighted that private operators make tall claims but do not really pay attention to the quality of services in remote and border areas.

Citing a case study, committee members noted that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which was represented by its secretary Neeraj Mittal, lost the chance to levy Rs 577.26 crore against service providers and quizzed officials on the reasons for such a "staggering difference" between provisional and final assessment, the sources said.

The audit report had flagged underassessment of revenue worth 2463,67 crore, which the department is in process of recovering from various operators.

Officials told the committee that the DoT revenue, including licence fee plus spectrum usage charges, has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 9.39 per cent since 2020-21, rising to Rs 30,261 crore from Rs 21,133 crore.

They also pointed out that a host of policy initiatives have helped the BSNL turn a net profit.

A source said that most MPs were of the view that public sector operators needed to expand and boost its infra and services.

Officials said the DoT has taken a host of measures to address the issues flagged by the CAG. Over 2,300 officials, including 1,683 assistant accounts officers who are deemed critical to the assessment process, were recruited in 2018, 2022 and 2025 to facilitate revenue collection and assessment, according to the sources.

Key functionaries of Airtel, Jio, Vodafone and BSNL, besides representatives of the CAG, also attended the meeting. PTI KR RT