COAI urges regulator to grant more time to telcos to file monthly, quarterly reports

New Delhi, Mar 27 () Industry body COAI has urged telecom regulator TRAI to grant at least six weeks of additional time to telcos to file monthly and quarterly reports which are due in April 2020.

The association cited massive efforts being undertaken by telecom companies to overcome "numerous operational challenges" in order to keep vital networks up and running amid the 21-day nationwide lockdown to counter the spread of coronavirus.

In a letter to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman RS Sharma, the Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) said that it is "extremely difficult for our members to submit various monthly and quarterly reports on the due date as per the requirements of TRAI as most of these reports require circle wise compilation and their compilation in the current environment will not be possible."

"Hence, we request TRAI to kindly extend the timelines for the submission of various reports...," COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said in the communication to TRAI.

COAI said that as provider of an essential service to the nation, the industry is facing "numerous operational challenges", but trying its best to fulfill duties and provide unhindered communication to the nation.

"In the present crisis, there is significant strain on the human resources of the operators as they are grappling with the operational issues arising from the COVID-19 outbreak on one hand, while also trying to fulfil the licensing compliance on the other hand. Regular day to day operations of the TSPs (telecom service providers) have been impacted with minimal staff manning the requirements," COAI said.

Citing a slew of measures recently announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for extension of statutory and regulatory compliances in view of the coronavirus pandemic, COAI said that date for filing tax returns, GST returns, all compliance under the Income Tax Act, Wealth Tax Act, Vivad se Vishwas have been extended to June 30, 2020.

"Similarly, we request TRAI to kindly provide our member TSPs additional time of at least 6 weeks, from the due date, to file all monthly and quarterly reports which are due for submission in April 2020 i.e. all reports wherein financial disincentive is applied or not," it said. MBI RVK