Bharti Tele's licence fee not refundable, says Maran

The Rs 145 crore entry fee claimed by Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. from the Department of Telecommunications for surrendering its fixed line licences in five telecom circles is "not refundable" as per the licence agreement, Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran said Thursday.

"The licence agreement says that the amount is not refundable. That is very clear," Maran told reporters on the sidelines of a function organised by the electronics and computer software export promotion council.

Earlier this week, Bharti approached the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal after its plea with the telecom department was quashed.

India's second largest mobile service operator had asked for refund of entry fee for Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

The company sought the entry fee refund as it had last year, surrendered the licence for these five circles-which had become redundant under the new unified access service licence regime.

As per the new regime, a telecom operator can provide all services in the same area after paying an entry fee. Bharti Tele had sought refund of the money, which was paid for these circles under the earlier licence regime.

The TDSAT will consider Bharti's petition challenging the government decision on Mar. 4.

On access deficit charge levied on private telecom operators, Maran said it should not be discontinued immediately-as it might lead to the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. hiking tariffs in rural areas.

ADC is levied on all calls and then paid to BSNL for providing services in rural and remote areas of the country and to boost rural telephony.

"I feel ADC should not be discontinued. By reducing ADC further, BSNL will be forced to increase tariffs," he said.

Maran, however, said he was in favour of further lowering call tariffs.

Last month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had cut ADC on domestic and international long-distance calls by about 50%, which led to reduction in tariffs by private operators.

Tuesday, TRAI Chairman Pradip Baijal said ADC was likely to be discontinued within 3-5 years.

He also said a consultation paper on ADC would be brought out within a week and that the next review of the ADC would take place within 3-6 months.