Govt not to refund Bharti's Rs 145 cr licence fee

NEW DELHI: The government will not refund Rs 1450 crore fee that Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. paid for some licences but later gave up after a policy change, Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran said.

Bharti is India's largest listed mobile services provider, which is owned 28 percent by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.

"The licence agreement is clear that the entry fee payable is not refundable," Maran told reporters on the sidelines of an industry seminar on Thursday. He did not elaborate.

In June 2004, Bharti had surrendered its licences for fixed-line services in the states of Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu after the government introduced a unified licencing policy.

A unified permit allows a carrier to offer both fixed-line and mobile services under a single licence.

Bharti, which has about 11 million telecoms users, had sought a refund of the entry fee that it had paid at the time of acquiring the fixed-line licences. The firm has approached the sector's legal tribunal for redressal.

Bharti offers GSM-based mobile services in 21 of the 23 circles or zones making up the domestic telecoms market. It also provides basic phone services in six of these zones.