New Delhi, Dec. 22: Telecom equipment manufacturers have asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to lobby on their behalf for a cut in sales tax and withdrawal of octroi duty and entry taxes to give relief to the subscribers and boost tele-density in the country.

The Telecom Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (Tema) has also urged the regulator to take up the issue with the finance ministry along with the plea not to reduce the import duty before 2005.

In a letter to the telecom regulator, Tema said Trai should advise the finance ministry and the respective state governments to “reduce the sales tax burden on handsets which ranges from 4 to 12.5 per cent in addition to the burden of octroi duty/entry tax in various states.”

“The withdrawal of these levies will bring further relief to the subscribers and would immensely help in deployment of mobile phones, resulting in desired increase of tele-density,” the letter said.

The telecom equipment manufacturers feel that the prices of telecom products manufactured in India are never higher than the international market as has been seen in the last several years by public operators.

“India is a price-sensitive market and, as a result, the telecom growth of about 2 million per month has been possible due to domestic reduction in tariff, which had been made possible due to Trai’s policies and directives of allowing competition in a big way,” said Tema president Narendra Kumar Goyal.