Some telecom firms pay portion of license fee

NEW DELHI, August 17: A few cellular and basic telecom companies on Monday submitted

part of the license fee dues and liquidity damages to the government. According to

reports, Rs 159.89 crore in license fee and Rs 63.47crore in liquidity damages have been

paid by these companies to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Among the basic service providers, except for Essar (Punjab), all the operators have

made their payments. Essar has not provided fresh financial bank guarantees (FBGs). The

new telecom policy allows telecom operators to switch over from the licensee fee

arrangement to revenue sharing regime. However, the new policy was challenged in the Delhi

high court, which had ruled that the companies would be allowed to accept the new policy

on the condition that they would abide by the decision of the new government at the

centre, which will be formed after the September elections. The next hearing of the case

is on December 6.

According to the new policy, the telecom operators are required to pay 35 per cent of

the dues by Monday and the rest by January next year. The companies are, however, yet to

submit affidavits accepting the Delhi high court ruling.