The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is set to recover dues to the tune of R2,764.29 crore from the nine telecom operators that continued their operations for over a year after the Supreme Court had ordered cancellation of their licences in February 2012.
Nearly 60% of the due amount will come from just three operators ? Etisalat DB (R605 crore), Unitech Wireless (R513.40 crore) and Videocon Telecommunications (R501.11 crore). Others in the list include Idea Cellular, Loop Telecom, S Tel, Sistema Shyam, Spice Communications and Tata Teleservices.
The DoT has calculated what it calls ?one time spectrum charges? for spectrum allocated on a pro rata basis, based on the the reserve price for 1800 MHz and 800 MHz discovered during the auction conducted in November 2012. This is in line with the order given by the Supreme Court.
The DoT has calculated the due amount based on two assumptions. One, all the 122 cancelled licences continued their operations after February 2, 2012 (day the SC order had come) and up to February 15, 2013. And second, the GSM providers were allocated quntum of 4.4 MHz spectrum while the CDMA operators were allocated 2.5 MHz spectrum.
Based on the direction of the apex court, the DoT has now prepared a provisional demand note that will be vetted internally for confirming the period of operations of individual operators in order to avoid litigation.
The DoT has already asked CDMA telecom operators to pay a one-time fee, amounting to about R3,033 crore, for the spectrum they have held beyond the initial frequencies that were allocated to them.
In its order on levy of one-time spectrum charges for CDMA spectrum held by the incumbent telecom service providers, DoT has said that companies holding CDMA spectrum above 2.5 Mhz in the 800 MHz band, the rate for one-time spectrum charges shall be applicable from 01-01-2013.
Telecom operators will have an option to pay these charges in equal annual instalments in a manner that the last one ends one year before their licences expire.
Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices, Sistema Shyam (SSTL), BSNL and MTNL hold spectrum beyond 2.5 Megahertz (MHz) in a few telecom service areas. SSTL, which recently won 3.75 MHz spectrum in 8 circles, will not have to pay a one-time spectrum fee for these areas, but the spectrum held by the company in Rajasthan falls under the ambit of the order.