Bengaluru, June 25 -- The Indian government is preparing to waive spectrum usage charges (SUC) on airwaves purchased through auctions held before September 2021-a move that could offer financial relief worth thousands of crores to telecom operators. This comes as part of the broader effort to ease the financial burden on the sector and support ongoing investments in network infrastructure.

Back in June 2022, the government had already scrapped SUC for spectrum bought in auctions after 15th September 2021. However, no such relief was extended to the airwaves acquired in earlier auctions. Now, that gap is likely to be closed, with the SUC waiver expected to be extended to include pre-2021 spectrum as well.

The proposal to waive SUC on spe...