In its pre-budget submission to the Ministry of Finance, COAI called for doing away with the multiple tax levy structure at centre as well as state level which now total up to as much as 24-30% of AGR of operators.

To fend off cases of false reporting of revenues, COAI said that there should be a uniform licence fee of 1% of AGR.

It called for deduction under Section 80IA for the telecom sector to make it at par with other infrastructure sectors and the sunset clause should be removed while also exempting it under Section 80 IA for full term of 10 years in succession, the benefits of which will ultimately be passed on to end-users in form of more affordable services.

COAI also demanded the removal of clause requiring quoting of PAN at time of acquiring mobile connection.