Department of Telecom (DoT) officials say the spectrum charge for MTS India will be Rs 601.91 crore, while Videocon will need to pay Rs 464.17 crore as they remained in business after their licences were cancelled in February last year.
This will be yet another blow on Indian telecom operators which are trying to revive their business in India.
A PTI report, quoting DoT officials, said DoT worked out a total one-time spectrum charge of over Rs 2,060 crore to be levied from mobile operators for the period they remained in business after their licences were cancelled in February last year.
Period to calculate the one-time charge has been taken from February 2, 2012 to the date of closure of operation, and on pro rata basis at reserve price for 1800 Mhz (2G GSM) and 800 Mhz (CDMA) approved for the auction held in November 2012 and March 2013, PTI reported.
As per the DoT calculations, Etisalat liable to pay Rs 94.19 crore, Idea Cellular Rs 153.97 crore, Loop Telecom Rs 125.37 crore, S Tel Rs 10.29 crore, Spice Communications (Idea Cellular) Rs 109.19 crore, Uninor Rs 498.20 crore and Videocon Telecom Rs 464.17 crore.
CDMA player Sistema Shyam Teleservices is liable to pay Rs 601.91 crore and Tata Teleservices Rs 2.99 crore.
In February last year, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 2G telecom licences. The apex court had allowed these companies to operate till DoT conducts spectrum auction and giving opportunity to them to begin operations afresh. The initial time was four months which was extended due to delay in regulatory process.
The cancelled licenses included 22 of Uninor, 21 of Loop Telecom, 21 of Sistema-Shyam, 15 of Etisalat, 6 of S Tel, 21 of Videocon, 3 of Tata Teleservices and 9 of Idea Cellular.
Uninor, Sistema Shyam, Videocon and Idea Cellular were among those companies that participated in spectrum auction to continue their operations in India. Loop Telecom, Etisalat, S Tel closed their operations in the country.
