Telcos owe govt Rs 54,828 cr in licence, spectrum fee

The total outstanding dues against Bharti Airtel is Rs 11,235.50 crore.

Telecom operators owe the government Rs 54,828.25 crore (Rs 548.28 billion) in licence fee, spectrum charges and arrears, of which Rs 44,380.91 crore (Rs 443.80 billion) is under litigation, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

The outstanding dues also include electromagnetic radiation penalty, customer acquisition form (CAF) fine and Mobile Number Portability (MNP) testing fee arrears.

"Out of the total outstanding of Rs 54,828.25 crore (Rs 548.28 billion), the amount under litigation is Rs 44,380.91 crore (Rs 443.80 billion) pertaining to major telecom service providers," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

He added that cases pending in various courts are closely monitored and suitable actions are being taken in consultations with senior law officers from time to time.

Total outstanding dues against Bharti Airtel are Rs 11,235.50 crore (Rs 112.35 billion), followed by state-run BSNL Rs 9,936.26 crore (Rs 99.36 billion), Vodafone Rs 9,206.03 crore (Rs 92.06 billion), Idea Cellular Rs 5,435.41 crore (Rs 54.35 billion), Reliance Communications Rs 6,355.43 crore (Rs 63.55 billion) and Reliance Telecom Rs 494.04 crore (Rs 4.94 billion).

Also, Tata Teleservices owes Rs 3,472.52 crore (Rs 34.72 billion) and MTNL Rs 4,091.31 crore (Rs 40.91 billion).