"There is a scope of about 30 per cent cut at present. License fee at 15 per cent, five per cent wireless charges and nearly 10 per cent access deficit charge makes it 30 per cent besides a service tax of 10 per cent," Mittal said on the sidelines of Ficci annual general meeting.
"Today telecom services are being charged at 40 per cent, which is very high for an essential service like communication," he said.
He said the question we have to ask is whether it (mobile telephony) is a five star service or is this is an essential service, which are developing the country's economy. If telecom is serving the nation it cannot be taxed at five star rates.
"If 40 per cent tax rates come down, we can promise on behalf of the industry that we will bring the tariffs down with 100 per cent reduction from whatever the government grants us as relief", Mittal added.
He said the exact fall in tariffs would depend on how much the government wants to reduce the taxes.
Mittal recalled Finance Minister P Chidambaram saying on Monday that current tax structure in the telecom sector was complex and it needed to be simplified. "We are hopeful that some simplification and rationalisation in tax structure will happen," he added.
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