Govt earns Rs 8,308 cr from mobile companies

The government earned Rs 8,307.85 crore (Rs 83.07 billion) from mobile telecom operators by way of licence fees in 2008-09, Parliament was informed today.

During the first six months (up to the second quarter of the current fiscal) of 2009-10, the department of telecommunication has already collected Rs 4,112.30 crore (Rs 41.12 billion), minister of state for telecom and IT Gurudas Kamat said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Bharti Airtel has paid the maximum licence fee of Rs 2,246.27 crore (Rs 22.46 billion) for 2008-09.

Mobile operators pay 6-10 per cent of their respective adjusted gross revenue to the government as licence fee depending on the circle in which they operate.

The revenue has been steady rising going by the figures of DoT as the operators expanded network and earned more revenue.

In 2006-07, the government collected Rs 5,988.87 crore (Rs 59.88 billion) while in 2007-08, it was 7,289.76 crore (Rs 72.89 billion).

The government raised a demand Rs 85.48 crore (Rs 854.8 million) from various mobile players due to annual assessment of licences with a maximum of Rs 48.55 crore (Rs 485.5 million) from Reliance Communication.

He said there is no proposal to appoint an ombudsman for the telecom sector to settle grievances.

Kamat said the government had ordered special audit of some private telecom operators which include audit of revenue from bundled handset packages.

"Out of the special auditors appointed by the government, only one has submitted its report so far. The department is presently examining the report and will take action as per its findings," he said.