Koshika Telecom has approached financial institutions to fund its payment of licence fee arrears. The company has also paid a "notional amount" as part of its acceptance of the migration package from the licence fee regime to revenue-sharing.
Koshika's licence fees arrears amount to about Rs 419 crore, including penal interest accrued till March 31. A part of this amount will be paid by the promoters while the remaining will be borrowed from the FIs. FI sources said only around Rs 400 crore are expected to be sanctioned.
Koshika had approached the FIs soon after its shift to revenue-sharing was cleared by the cabinet on March 29. The FIs had then said they would only consider Koshika's case after it received the offer letter from the department of telecommunications.
The process is taking time and the company is finding it difficult to raise finances on account of the termination of its licences for three circles _ Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh (West). "But we will get the funds before the due date," said company sources.
Koshika intends to pay its first instalment of licence fees of about Rs 200 crore by May 8. This will enable it to avoid the late payment penalty and also get the permission of interconnectivity from DoT.
"The remaining amount will have to be paid by July 24 in accordance with the offer letter that stipulates that the entire payment be made within 90 days of receipt of the letter, which was April 25 in Koshika's case," sources said.
Usha Group chairman Vinay Rai said that the company has sent the acceptance letter accepting the terms of the migration package set by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The acceptance letter was sent on April 25 itself, he said.
Meanwhile, Koshika has decided to withdraw the pending cases with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the Delhi High Court and a formal intimation on the same is expected to be sent today. Sources said that Koshika has also written to its customers informing them that the company will soon resume its services. This is in response to the cases that some customers had filled against the government in different courts on the termination of Koshika's licences. Though the cabinet had cleared Koshika's migration in March, the offer letter from DoT had got delayed. This was due to Koshika's request to stagger its licence fee payments over a period of time and normalise its licence fees structure from the stipulated front loaded system. The issue was taken up by the Cabinet but the plea was turned down and subsequently the offer letter was issued on April, 17.
