Indian operators hit with additional spectrum charges

News Wireless India 15 FEB 2013
Indian operators hit with additional spectrum charges
India's Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has issued notices to mobile operators including Vodafone India, Bharti airtel and Reliance Communications (RCom) demanding that they pay an additional revenue share for spectrum usage from 2008 onwards, reports The Economic Times. DoT officials said that similar notices are being issued to the remaining operators within the next few days. Vodafone has been issued four separate notices to pay an additional charge of INR 8.77 billion. Bharti Airtel has been issued several notices totalling over INR 12 billion. A RCom executive said the company had received notices towards additional charges for airwaves, but declined to reveal the amount. An official said that the DoT had now recalculated the licence fee and had included revenues from corporate receipts, handset sales, real estate transactions and interest earned from bank deposits, among others, as the Supreme Court had ruled that the telecommunication ministry's jurisdiction on this issue cannot be questioned.

Categories:

Mobile

Companies:

Bharti Airtel,  Reliance Communications,  Vodafone India

Countries:

India

Tags:

Government telecommunications licensing, Regulations, Wholesale, Government policy

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