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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Feb. 10

THE Union Minister for Communication and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, said on Thursday that the entry fee paid by Bharti Tele-Ventures for basic telephone licence was non-refundable.

Bharti has filed a suit against the Government, seeking a refund of Rs 135 crore on the grounds that the five basic telecom licences had become redundant after the new Unified Access Services regime.

Speaking on the sidelines of a function organised by Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), Mr Maran said the Government would take stern action against those operators who try to illegally route calls into the country.

"The Department of Telecom is going to take action against anyone who is found to be illegally re-routing traffic to the country. The instructions are clear. In case of prepaid cards, when an operator is giving a connection, he has to verify the actual user. But there seems to be a gross abuse in issuing these cards. We are just trying to enforce the system." The Government is fighting a legal case against Reliance Infocomm, which was asked to pay Rs 150 crore for allegedly routing long distance calls as local ones.

Deficit charges: On the industry's demands for reducing Access Deficit Charges (ADC), Mr Maran supported Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's stance favouring the continuation of the charges to support rural telephony. Mr Maran said that BSNL would be forced to hike phone rental in rural areas, if the quantum of the ADC is reduced any further.

"ADC was a commitment given to BSNL to provide connectivity in unprofitable areas. There are 2-3 years still left for the ADC to continue. We should gradually phase it out. I feel ADC should not be discontinued just like that. But it is up to the TRAI, which is the ultimate authority in this matter," Mr Maran said.

FDI cap: On the hike in the foreign direct investment cap, Mr Maran said that it gave an opportunity for operators to "come clean" on the foreign equity structure. "We have made the FDI in telecom very transparent and clear. Operators did not have a clear FDI structure. They had multiple offshore companies to hold stakes in Indian telecom companies, so it was not transparent for us. Now those operators have been given a clean board to come clean."

Earlier speaking at the awards function organised by ESC, Mr Maran warned the Indian IT and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector of competition from emerging players like China, Indonesia and the Philippines.

"While the Indian IT/ITeS sector is growing very well, we have to be aware of the competition emerging from countries like Ireland, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Poland and China," Mr Maran said after giving away ESC awards for excellence in exports for 2002-03.

The Minister assured domestic IT manufacturers that their interests would be protected in the forthcoming Budget, while implementing the zero-duty regime from April 1. Indian exports of electronics and computer software during 2003-04 were to the tune of $14.28 billion. IT and ITeS exports will earn nearly $50 billion by 2008.

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