As per industry sources, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has released bank guarantees (BG) worth Rs 92 billion of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Reliance Jio, which was deposited for licence fee and spectrum usage charges. The move is part of the reform package announced by the government in September 2021.
Bank guarantee of around Rs 40 billion has been returned to Bharti Airtel and Rs 25 billion to Vi. BG of around Rs 27 billion was returned to Reliance Jio last month.
Earlier in October 2021, DoT slashed performance and financial bank guarantee requirements of telecom operators by 80 per cent. Under the amended norms, telecom operators will be required to provide a performance BG of up to Rs 440 million for each service for the telecom licence compared to Rs 2.2 billion mandated under the old rule.
Similarly, telecom operators will need to provide a financial BG of maximum Rs 88 million per circle now, against the previous requirement of 440 million.
However, the rules will not be applicable in cases where BGs have been furnished due to any court order or are subject to any litigation. Further, the rules will not apply to telecom operators currently going through the liquidation process.
The move is aimed at unblocking the cash of telecom operators that they keep with banks to furnish BGs.
