The working group examining the telecom tax structure for the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) has recommended a slew of tax cuts for the sector. These include reduction of service tax from 12 per cent to 8 per cent, reduction of licence fee from 10 per cent to 6 per cent, a complete waiver of customs duty on microwave equipment, and only 8 per cent excise duty on locally manufactured telecom equipment. The finance ministry had, however, rejected these proposals once before when DoT had recommended them.
