Big 4 telcos to pay Rs 12K cr for excess spectrum: TRAI

Seeking to assuage fears of big four mobile service providers, including Bharti, of huge payout for excess spectrum  telecom regulator TRAI today said their outgo would be only about Rs 12,000 crore.

"There is no need for anxiety ... The payout for each of these four companies are not much. As per TRAI estimations, the amount of money Bharti will have to pay is Rs 3,498 crore and for Vodafone Essar it is Rs 2,849 crore. For MTNL, it is Rs 2,669 crore and for BSNL it is Rs 3,040 crore," TRAI Chairman J S Sarma told PTI.

For radiowaves beyond the contracted 6.2 Mhz in their possession, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Tuesday recommended that operators pay a one-time fee based on prices of 3G spectrum, auction for which is currently on.

Bharti, Vodafone Essar, MTNL and BSNL hold over 6.2 Mhz spectrum in many of the circles. Bharti and Vodafone hold more than 10 MHz in many circles, including Mumbai and New Delhi.

As per TRAI proposals, for spectrum between 6.2 Mhz and 8 Mhz, operators have to pay one-time fee discovered by 3G auction. For spectrum 8 Mhz-10 Mhz, the fee 1.3 times of 3G price.

Sarma said this outgo would also come down if the proposed licence fee of 6 per cent comes into picture. In that case, the net outgo for Bharti would be Rs 1,500 crore.

Bharti and Vodafone have termed the TRAI proposals as "arbitrary and shocking". Bharti Airtel said the recommendations are "designed to punish efficient and performing operators like us.

The telecom stocks were battered on stock markets following the TRAI proposals in anticipation of their balance sheets being hit by huge payout by operators.

Responding to reactions of the operators, Sarma said "recommendations are not anti-consumer... There is no impact on prices. We would keep track of any unwarranted change on price due to this proposals".

All TRAI proposals need to be approved by the Department of Telecom (DoT) to be made a law.