The 40 per cent of dues will amount to Rs 145 crore as the total outstanding licence fee of Koshika Telecom is Rs 364 crore. However, as bank guarantees totalling Rs 94 crore have been encashed by the department of telecom, the actual demand on account of licence fee may only be in the range Rs 50 crore.

Sorabjee has also said that the licence would be restored only in the event of the company furnishing bank guarantees to cover the balance licence fee amounting to nearly Rs 219 crore.

In addition, Koshika will also have to pay a restoration charge for every point of inter-connect (PoI) between the Koshika cellular network and DoT's landline network. The licence agreement stipulates a restoration charge of Rs 2 lakh per PoI.

In his opinion to the government, he has termed Koshika Telecom's demands for normalisation of licence fee and change in effective date of licence period as "untenable" and said that the company must pay more than the others due to its default.

DoT sources said "a view on the opinion has not yet been taken" by the department and said AG's opinion on Aircel Digilink and other companies would also be looked into before a final decision was taken on this matter.

Sources added that the department was keen to resolve the matter of Koshika and other cancelled licences soon, provided that all the conditions of the revenue-sharing package were met in toto by these operators. Koshika Telecom had operations in Orissa, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (east) and Uttar Pradesh (west). DoT had terminated operations in the above circles with the exception of Uttar Pradesh (East), in order to maintain continuity of services. The licence of the second cellular service provider in this circle, Aircel Digilink (Essar group company), had also been cancelled by DoT.

Subsequent to the adoption of the new telecom policy, the matter of the disconnected licences had been referred to AG for his opinion on whether the companies could also be offered the new revenue-sharing package.