DoT to charge 9 firms ₹2,451 cr for spectrum use

The Department of Telecom has initiated the process to collect ₹2,451 crore from 2G players for being allowed to continue services after the Supreme Court order on February 2, 2012.

The initial demand was a higher amount, but the final amount has been fixed based on the date of new licences issued to the players following the spectrum auction.

The DoT proposed the initial amount assuming that all operators continued to offer services till March 15, 2013. However, players such as Loop Telecom switched off their networks within a few months of the court’s order.

The Supreme Court had directed the DoT to collect the fee from all companies that continued to offer services after the February 2 order.

Operators such as Sistema Shyam and Unitech Wireless continued to offer services to avoid disruption in services to consumers.

Both these players had continued to offer services till they won back the spectrum in select circles in the auction.

These players were able to sustain their operations because the DoT approached the court seeking more time to cancel the licences. Although the initial order was to scrap the licences by August 2012, the DoT kept seeking extensions till the auctions were held.

While agreeing to the extensions, the Supreme Court told the DoT to collect a fee from the telcom companies based on the reserve price fixed for the auction.

The affected players, however, said the fee was unfair because had they discontinued services immediately after the court order, it would have impacted their subscribers.