Airtel and other telcos' books may face special audit

The government is likely to undertake a special audit of integrated telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel, facing allegations of reporting revenues in a manner that attracts lower licence fee.

Communication and IT Minister A Raja has asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to examine if there has been any revenue loss to the exchequer caused by private telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea and Aircel.

The DoT’s action comes after telecom regulator Trai found rise in Bharti Airtel’s revenue from the long-distance segment, which attracts only 6 per cent licence fee, as against up to 10 per cent for other mobile services.

An Airtel spokesperson said: “As a responsible corporate following the highest standards of corporate governance, Bharti Airtel has always strictly adhered to the regulatory requirements and processes. In our communication to the regulator, we have already clarified the queries raised by them, which are in complete compliance and within regulatory framework.”

The DoT has pointed out that the revenue from long distance operations has shown a substantial increase in the April-June 2008 quarter as pointed out by Trai.

The regulator had carried out an analysis for five quarters (four quarters of 2007-08 and one quarter of 2008-09) and had asked the DoT to get the accounts of Bharti Airtel examined on this account.

“Trai has raised a doubt that the licensee company (Bharti Airtel) is shifting the revenue of mobile segment to long distance segment. To clear the doubt raised by Trai, it is suggested that we may conduct a special audit of the company,” DoT said in a noting.

Airtel said that their carriage charges for domestic long distance (NLD) business are well within the ceiling provided by the Trai and as per market practice and non-discriminatory. As far as examination of accounts of other integrated telecom companies is concerned, the DoT is yet to take a decision.

Raja had asked Telecom Secretary Siddartha Behura to look into a complaint by an MP saying the private telecom companies were circumventing the payment of licence fee on several accounts and this was causing a loss of over Rs 1,000 crore to the exchequer.