Bharti may quit basic services

Bharti Tele-Ventures on Monday said it wanted the department of telecommunications to refund the fee it paid for acquiring five basic service licences because the telecom regulator's recommendation on merging cellular and basic licences had made basic services redundant.

"If these recommendations are implemented, the fixed-line telephone licence will become infructous, for which Bharti expects a refund of licence fee along with suitable compensation from the department of telecommunications," a Bharti statement said.

Trai said Bharti would have to pay Rs 487 crore to convert its basic licences into a unified one. While Bharti had paid Rs 145 crore for buying five basic licences, the fourth cellular operators paid Rs 649 crore.

Bharti is one of the key litigants against Trai and the telecommunications department for allowing limited mobility services.

"It has been indicated in the Trai paper that should Bharti need to convert its licences in five circles, it will have to pay Rs 487 crore. Bharti would like to clarify that it does not need to convert any of its fixed licences into unified licences because it offers mobile services in all these areas and does not have to incur any additional liability whatsoever."