The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) not to take any coercive action against Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL), say news reports. This issue pertains to the inclusion of certain charges while calculating gross revenue for payment of the license fee.
In an interim order, TDSAT has also directed SSTL to provide a financial bank guarantee equivalent to the amount demanded by DoT in 15 circles within a week. The matter has been listed for hearing on March 18, 2013.
TDSAT?s order came in the wake of a batch of 15 petitions filed by SSTL challenging the mode of calculation of an operator?s gross revenue by DoT. Telecom operators have to pay a certain percentage of their revenue as the license fee to the government under the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) system.
Earlier, DoT had provided a provisional assessment of the required annual licence fee for 2010-2011 and asked SSTL to pay Rs 129.4 million. This was challenged by SSTL before the tribunal on grounds that DoT had included the charges related to its public switched telephone network and roaming facility while calculating the operator?s gross revenue. SSTL claimed that this was in violation of the terms and conditions of the licence.
However, DoT dismissed SSTL?s claim and stated that the deduction in the AGR for Rs 236 million was disallowed as the proofs of such payments were not furnished by the operator.
