All fourth cell licencees settle 80% fee dues

Our eFE Bureau

New Delhi, Aug 10: All the companies who have won licences for the fourth cellular operator in various telecom circles have remitted the remaining 80 per cent of the aggregate bid amount of Rs 1633.57 crore on August 10 which was set as the deadline.

Meanwhile, the fate of the licence bagged by Bharti Cellular, which also paid its due of Rs 552 crore, hangs fire.

Bharti Cellular officials say that the company has 20 more days to procure the crucial no-dues certificate from the government and collect the licences.

“If Bharti Cellular is unable to clear its dues and get the licences within 20 days, this amount will be forfeited,” said department of telecommunications (DoT) officials.

Apart from Bharti Cellular, the other companies who paid up the remaining amount of the licence fee on Friday are Batata, which remitted Rs 136.56 crore, Barakhamba, a Hutchison subsidiary which paid Rs 371.072 crore, Escorts, which paid Rs 184.28 crore, and Reliable, a Reliance company which paid Rs 78.01 crore.

Meanwhile, the department of telecommunications is yet to accept the proposal of Bharti to pay the undisputed component of the Rs 515-crore licence fee accrued by Evergrowth Telecom Ltd and securitise the remaining amount against bank and company guarantees. Evergrowth is a fully owned subsidiary of JT Mobile, which was acquired by Bharti Cellular.

While Bharti Cellular has been contesting that Evergrowth was not a part of the acquisition since its shares had been pledged with Essar Group by JT Mobile for a Rs 280-crore fund infusion into the company by Essar Group, the department of telecommunications is reluctant to buy this argument.

The licence of Evergrowth to operate cellular services in Punjab was cancelled in December 1996 due to non-payment of fee dues. Currently, there exists a dispute over the amount of dues to be cleared. The department of telecommunications is demanding that the company pay up the entire amount including the disputed amount accrued in the 693 days when the licence stood cancelled. But Evergrowth has offered to pay only the undisputed amount of Rs 40 crore which, according to Bharti Cellular officials, was due at the time of cancellation of the licence.

Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, minister for communications, and Mr Tapan Sikdar, minister of state for communications, had given their recommendation in favour of letting Evergrowth off the hook with the payment of only the undisputed amount.

The matter is currently pending approval with the Attorney General, after which it will be sent to the Cabinet Committee for a final decision.