CDMA operators Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices will have
to jointly shell out around Rs. 2,900 crore as one-time spectrum fee following
the Cabinet decision on CDMA spectrum.
Charge for additional CDMA
spectrum held by RCom is estimated to be around Rs. 1,752 crore and for
Tata Teleservices Rs. 1,155 crore approximately, sources said.
The charges are based on reduced reserve price of CDMA spectrum approved by the Cabinet on Thursday.
They will be levied for spectrum allocated to them beyond 2.5Mhz from January 1, for the rest of their licence period.
RCom
and Tata Tele apart, Russian conglomerate controlled Sistema Shyam also
holds spectrum beyond 2.5Mhz in Rajasthan circle, but the charges that
will be levied on the company could not be ascertained.
State-owned
telecom companies BSNL and MTNL too hold spectrum beyond 2.5Mhz in many
telecom service area but charges applicable on these two firm could not
be known.
Recently, the Department of Telecom issued demand notice of Rs. 21,177 crore for one-time spectrum fee to GSM telecom operators.
According
to this notice, for GSM services, 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 for GSM spectrum.
The companies were asked to pay their first instalment by January 15 which collectively amounts to Rs. 8,115.68 crore.
The
companies were also given grace period of 21 days, starting January 8,
but no company is learnt to have paid this amount yet.