Dot Reprieve For Five Basic Loi Holders

The department of telecommunications (DoT) yesterday extended the deadline for payment of licence fees to October 31, even as Essar Commvision said it would pay its first licence fee tranche by then. DoT, however, decided to retain September 30 the earlier deadline as the `effective date for start of the licence and interconnect agreements.

This will mean that the operators which have not paid licence fees Essar Commvision in Punjab, Tata Teleservices (Andhra Pradesh), RPG-led Basic Teleservices (Tamil Nadu), Usha groups Techno Telecom (Bihar) and Hughes Ispat in Karnataka will have to pay penalties for the extended one month. The tender conditions stipulate a penalty of five per cent over the prime lending rate, which works out to some 20 per cent a year.

The telecom commission decision to set September 30 as the effective date of the licence and interconnect agreements will also apply to Bharti Telenet, the licensee in Madhya Pradesh, and Reliance Telecom for Gujarat. Both the companies had paid the first instalment of licence fees Rs 19.20 crore by Bharti Telenet and Rs 97 crore by Reliance Telecom earlier this year on the condition that the effective date for other basic telecom companies would be applicable in their cases too.

Essar Commvision, an Essar-Bell Atlantic joint venture, had asked for a months time to sign the licence and interconnect agreements; the Tata-Bell Canada-American International Group consortium wanted a two months; and Hughes Ispat asked for three more months to ink the pacts.

The first licence fee tranche of Essar Commvision works out to over Rs 131.22 crore, which together with a months penalty will amount to Rs 133.40 crore. Similarly, alongwith penalties Tata Teleservices will have to fork out Rs 122 crore and Hughes Ispat Rs 168.36 crore for Karnataka.

The two other operators, Basic Teleservices and Techno Telecom, have not been sent the licence and internconnect agreements by DoT because they have cases against the department pending in the Delhi High Court.