Tata, Modi pay up licence fee

NEW DELHI, MAR 17: Basic service operator in Andhra Pradesh, Tata Teleservices today paid 20 per cent of its licence fee dues amounting t...

NEW DELHI, MAR 17: Basic service operator in Andhra Pradesh, Tata Teleservices today paid 20 per cent of its licence fee dues amounting to Rs 24.12 crore, while cellular operators in Calcutta Modi-Telstra paid Rs 80.66 crore.

Payment by Tata Teleservices comes following the Delhi High Court directive on March 10 to three basic telecom operators 8211; Tatas, Hughes Ispat and Essar Commvision to pay 20 per cent of licence fee within 10 days or face consequences for default.

Modi Telstra8217;s payment is the difference of their February 15 payment and the actual due amount, official sources said.

The directive was given by the court while staying the invocation of bank guarantees of these three companies by DoT for 10 days. The court had noted that the stay order would be vacated, if the petitioners failed to deposit the amount within the given period.

The court has assured petitioners of refund of the money along with interest, in case of a final order in favour of these companies. The companies paid the 20 percent of dues without interest since the court has directed them to do so.

Among the six private basic telecom operators, only Bharti Telecom has paid the 20 per cent of licence fee dues before the deadline set by the communications minister Jagmohan.

The Tatas owe Rs 120.60 crore to the department without calculating interest, Essar Commvision, licensee for Punjab circle, has total dues of over Rs 132 crore. Hughes Ispat, licensee for Maharashtra, has a total dues of over Rs 379 crore. Another basic operator, Reliance Telecom, owes the exchequer Rs 97 crore which is its dues upto January 31, 1999.

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Telelink, which holds the licensee for Rajasthan, has no dues at present. The bank guarantees of Tata, Essar and Reliance are worth Rs 50 crore, Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively. Bank guarantee of Hughes Ispat is worth Rs 50 crore only.

Bharati and Hughes Ispat have already started service in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively, while other private players are gearing up for launch ofservice.