According to the Ministry of Communications and IT, the telecom operators owe over Rs 193 billion to the government as spectrum charges and licence fee. Out of the total liability, around Rs 148.95 billion is on account of licence fee and the remaining Rs 44.55 billion is towards the spectrum charges. The ministry added that the state-run operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has the maximum outstanding payment at Rs 53.73 billion.
Further, for 2014-15, the government has already received revenues of Rs 166.35 billion up to January 2015 from the telecom companies. This revenue included licence fee, universal access levy, spectrum usage charges and other receipts.
The ministry has stated that in case of default and delayed payments on the licence fee and spectrum usage charges, penalties are levied on the operators as per the provisions of the licence agreements.
