Department of Telecommunications has raised demand of around Rs. 877.6
crore from Vodafone as spectrum charges for the period between 2008-09
and 2011-12,sources said.
Every operator has to pay various kinds of
annual charges like spectrum usuage charge, licence fee which is based
on their revenue earned from telecom services.
The total amount
raised against Vodafone, includes penalty and interest for all the four
financial years separately, has to be paid by February 20, sources
added.
For financial year 2011-12, the company has been asked to
pay Rs. 131.89 crore penalty for 11 telecom service area. This includes
Rs. 81.86 crore principal and penalty while the interest component is
around Rs. 50 crore.
For financial year 2010-11, DoT has asked the
British telecom major's India unit to pay Rs. 730.98 crore that includes
principal and penalty of Rs. 532.88 crore and interest component of Rs.
198.10 crore.
These charges have been levied on spectrum held by company in 20 out of 22 service area where it operates, sources said.
The DoT has asked Vodafone to pay Rs. 14.78 crore for Andhra Pradesh service area due for fiscal 2009-10.
The company has also been asked to pay Rs. 12.24 lakh for Assam and Himachal Pradesh for fiscal 2008-09.
No immediate comment was received from Vodafone on the matter.