Government demands Rs. 23k crore from telcos for excess spectrum

The government has issued demand notices totalling over Rs. 23,000 crore to telecom companies including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and BSNL, for the excess spectrum they hold beyond the prescribed limit.
"The notices have been issued to the operators Wednesday," an official source said.
The government is likely to get Rs. 4,251.83 crore from retrospective charges, and Rs. 18,925.82 from prospective charges for excess radiowaves held by mobile operators.
In all, around Rs. 23,177 crore is expected from levy of one-time spectrum fee, sources added.
State-owned BSNL will have to pay around Rs. 6,912 crore, followed by Bharti Airtel - Rs. 5,201 crore, Vodafone - Rs. 3,599 crore, MTNL - Rs. 3,205 crore, Idea Cellular - Rs. 2,113 crore (includes Rs. 231.5 crore of Spice), Aircel - Rs. 1,365 crore (includes Rs. 14 crore of Dishnet), Loop Mobile - Rs. 606 crore and Reliance Communications - Rs. 173 crore.
Initially, telecom firms were given 4.4 MHz spectrum along with licence for Rs. 1,658 crore for pan-India operations and later they were entitled to get another 1.8 MHz on fulfilment of certain subscriber-base criteria.
In November, the government decided that the operators should pay for holding spectrum above 6.2 MHz retrospectively, from July 2008 to January 1, 2013.
After that, for spectrum above 4.4 MHz, they would have to pay for the remaining period of their licences based on auction held last November.
Sources said the Department of Telecom (DoT) has tentatively fixed provisional rate for spectrum in 1800 Mhz band for Delhi, Mumbai, Rajasthan and Karnataka circles where it did not receive any bids, as also for the more efficient 900 MHz band.

TRAI to check arbitrary disconnection of SIMs

Telecom regulator Trai has initiated debate on the issue of operators arbitrarily disconnecting services of customers on the grounds of 'non-usage of numbers' or 'inactive SIM connections'.
According to information provided by telecom operators to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, around 20 crore SIMs were inactive for over a certain period of time and the total balance on that account stood at Rs. 128.9 crore.

Trai has said that telecom subscribers at various forums have represented that their mobile connections were being disconnected arbitrarily by telecom operators.

"Deactivation of a SIM without prior intimation and on arbitrary grounds deprives the subscriber of his mobile number which might have been an identity for him for a long time," said Trai's consultation paper on the issue.

As a result, consumers suffer from a potential loss of activity in both personal and professional set-ups causing an adverse impact on livelihood.

"While some consumers complained against the practice of deactivation of SIMs without prior intimation to them by their TSPs (Telecom Service Providers) when they were travelling in India or abroad, other subscribers lamented about disconnection of their life-time prepaid connections within a very short period of non-usage," Trai said.

Telecom operators in their meetings with Trai have said that they have to deactivate SIMs to efficiently manage number series (mobile phone numbers) allocated to them by the Department of Telecom.

Trai said it has found that telecom operators do not follow common criteria to disconnect inactive SIMs but added that "to manage their numbering resources better, the service providers have proposed to follow a procedure for deactivating mobile connections which are not used for a long time".

In July 2011, DoT started allocating number series to telecom operators on the basis of active users on their network.

"However, while carrying out such deactivations, the customers should be informed transparently and those customers who wish to retain their connections even while not using them should have the option to do so on payment of a connection retention fee," it added.

Trai cited that its order on tariff plan with lifetime or unlimited validity "requires any subscriber to recharge" his mobile phone account "with any specified minimum amount within specified time periods" during validity of the plan.

"...to keep the said tariff plan valid, such specified time period or interval, shall, in no case, be less than six months," the regulator said.

Trai has fixed December 21 as last date for comments on this consultation paper, and December 28 as last date for counter comments.

Telcos fined Rs. 2,757 crore in last 4 years for not verifying user IDs

The government has imposed penalty amounting to Rs. 2,757 crore on telecom operators since 2009 for issuing mobile phone connection against forged documents, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal informed Parliament on Friday.
"In respect of calender years 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, more than 2.4 crore consumer application forms (CAFs) have been audited during monthly sample audit and penalties amounting to more than Rs. 2,757 crore have been imposed on telecom service providers," Sibal said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The Minister said that around 10,714 complaints and FIRs have been lodged with Police till October 31, 2012 relating to cases where forged documents have been submitted for obtaining a mobile connection.

"Out of these, 8,786 cases are against subscribers who were found to be involved in forgery," Sibal said.

The Telecom Enforcement Resource and Monitoring (Term) Cells, under Department of Telecommunications, carries out monthly sample verification of CAFs along with supporting documents to cross check the compliance on photo, identity, address (PIA) basis.

Sibal said cases have been reported wherein law enforcement agencies and police have faced difficulties in tracing out the actual user due to lack of proper verification.

However, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued new guidelines for verification of new mobile subscribers which are in place since November 9, 2012, Sibal said.

Under the new rules, in cases where forged documents are submitted by the subscriber and originals are also forged, police complaint or FIR shall be lodged by the franchisee against the subscriber within 15 days of bringing this to the notice of the franchisee.

In case the franchisee fails to lodge a complaint, the licensee (telecom operator) should lodge complaint against the subscriber and franchisee within further three days.

If the licensee does not take action against the subscriber, TERM Cell shall lodge complaint against the licensee.

Besides, the law enforcement agencies can suo-motto register a FIR in case they find that forged documents have been submitted for obtaining mobile SIM under relevant provisions of IPC.

Telenor's 2008 licence fee may not be adjusted in new payment

Telenor may not be able to avail of the benefit of adjusting Rs. 1,658 crore licence fee it paid in 2008 for permits of its Indian venture Uninor in the amount that it has to pay for the spectrum it has won in the recent radiowaves auction, sources said.
Telenor-owned Telewings, which has won spectrum in six telecom circles, is a different company from Uninor and therefore it is not eligible to get the benefit of adjusting the licence fee that the earlier JV Unitech Wireless paid for permits in 2008, sources said.

"Telewings is a different company. It is not eligible (for refund)," an official source said.

Telenor purchased majority stake in Uninor after licences were issued to its Indian partner Unitech Wireless.

The Empowered Group of Ministers decided in October to adjust the earlier payment made by companies whose licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court on February 2, and have no criminal proceedings pending against them in 2G case.

Uninor's 22 earlier licences were among the 122 cancelled by apex court in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

The adjustment has to be made in the final price that companies have to pay for spectrum they have won in auction ended on November 14.

Telenor parted ways with Unitech Wireless and bid in the auction through a new entity - Telewings Communications. It has to pay Rs. 4,018.28 crore for spectrum in six circles

Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP East and UP West.

Telenor Group President and CEO Jon-Fredrik Baksaas on Thursday said that company will be opting for deferred payment mode. Under deferred payment mode Telewings is required to pay Rs. 1,326.03 crore by December 1.

Sources said, however, that Videocon and Idea Cellular are eligible to adjust licence fee that they paid in 2008.

"They (Videocon and Idea Cellular) are eligible for set- off," the official said.

Sources confirmed that Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular have made payments. It was learnt that Bharti Airtel paid entire amount of Rs. 8.67 crore for Assam circle and Vodafone paid Rs. 372.22 crore upfront for 14 circles.

DoT Sources said that Idea has taken benefit to set-off initial payment, which is Rs. 670.33 crore upfront.

Sources at Idea confirmed that company has paid but did not disclose details of the payment made.