Airtel must pay Rs275 crore for 3G spectrum ‘roaming’: CAG
27 Sep 2013
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in a draft note has raised questions about the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) not charging appropriate spectrum usage fee from Bharti Airtel.
In a note sent to the DoT for comments, the national auditor is believed to have asked the department to charge Bharti Airtel a sum of about Rs725 crore for using third generation airwaves in the circles where it didn't buy any.
"Airtel was providing 3G services and earning revenues from 20 service areas and hence the DoT should have applied higher rate of SUC for all of them instead of limiting it to only 13 service areas," one report cited the note sent by CAG's Post and Telecommunications Audit Office to the DoT as saying.
Airtel is providing 3G services in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Haryana, and UP East where the company did not win any spectrum. Airtel used airwaves of other companies - Vodafone and Idea Cellular - for the services under a roaming agreement.
The 3G roaming agreement is sub-judice, where DoT has termed it illegal but the three companies have argued that the pact is legal.
The CAG is of the view that company should be made liable to pay a proportionate sum of the bid amount paid by the successful bidder in the seven service areas for the period it has used 3G spectrum, sources said.
"These charges would work out to Rs521.33 crore for the period up to March 2013," it added.
The CAG had earlier rebuked the telecom department for not revoking the telecom permits of the operator in those seven circles. The spectrum usage charge is a cascading fee paid by telecom operators annually and varies between 3-8 per cent depending upon the amount of spectrum used.