DoT Set To Ask Bharti Airtel, TTSL To Pay Rs 15,000 Crore

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to ask telcos Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices (TTSL) to pay around Rs 15,000 crore as dues relating to licence fees, spectrum usage charge (SUC) and one-time spectrum charge (OTSC) as a pre-condition for clearing their merger, ET reported.

The two telcos have to pay around Rs 10,000 crore and Rs 2800 crore, respectively, as spectrum usage charge, while Airtel alone has to pay Rs 2,000 crore as one-time spectrum charge in the form of bank guarantees to the government, the report said citing two people aware of the matter.

The two telcos received a go-ahead from the National Company Law Tribunal for their deal, under which Airtel will buy the loss-making TTSL under debt and cash-free deal. The final approval is pending from the telecom department.

Sources told the newspaper that the licence fees are in the process of getting calculated and it is likely to be a big amount and added that the demand letters will be sent soon.―CNBCTV18