The Cabinet today approved levy of about 31,000 crore rupees as one-time fee on spectrum held by incumbent telecom companies to create level playing field between old and new operators. Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting in New Delhi today, Finance minister P Chidambaram said the Cabinet has endorsed the recommendation of an Empowered Group of Ministers, EGoM. He said GSM-based telecom operators have to pay for airwaves they hold beyond 4.4 Mega-Hertz at an auction-determined price, while CDMA carriers pay for holdings beyond 2.5 MHz, for the remaining validity of their permits. He said GSM-operators holding more than 6.2 MHz of spectrum will pay a retroactive fee for the airwaves from July 2008.

Mr Chidambaram said while the price discovered in the auction beginning 12th of this month will apply for the one-time fee to be charged from incumbent GSM operators, the Department of Telecom (DoT) will work out the basis for the same for CDMA carriers.

The cabinet also approved change in funding arrangement for the Universal Service Obligation Fund schemes including the funding of the scheme for creation of National Optical Fiber Network from Non-Plan to Plan allocation in Budget. The approval was given for better appraisal, monitoring and performance evaluation.

In another decision, the Cabinet gave its nod to the third phase of the Small Development Projects in Afghanistan. The outlay for the third Phase of the Small Developmental Projects is 100 million US dollars or approximately 500 crore rupees. The finance minister said that local communities of Afghanistan will directly benefit from the Small Development Projects. This will cover all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. He said the projects will be implemented over a period of four years through local Afghan Government Bodies, Community Organization, Non-Government Organizations, Charitable Trusts and Education and Vocational Institutions.