Comments
Aircel today moved telecom tribunal TDSAT, seeking directions to the Department of Telecom (DoT) to revise bank guarantees submitted by it during the allotment of spectrum.
The TDSAT bench, headed by its Chairman Justice S B Sinha, issued notice to DoT asking it to file reply by January 30, the next date of hearing.
Other operators — Loop, Etisalat DB, Videocon, Idea —— who were granted licence in 2008 have already knocked the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal to get their Performance Bank Guarantees (PBG) and Financial Bank Guarantees (FBG) revised.
Senior advocate Meet Malhotra, representing Aircel, informed the tribunal that the company has completed roll-out obligations in all its licence areas and despite that, its PBG was not revised by DoT.
Aircel has been granted a pan India licence for all 23 circles. It has deposited Rs 525 crore as FBG and Rs 270 crore as PBG to DoT at the time of allotment of spectrum.
Aircel’s bank guarantees submitted for different circles would start lapsing from March 2012 onwards.
The company has submitted that it has also deposited 100 per cent liquidated damages imposed by DoT for alleged delay in roll out.
According to the company, as per the licence conditions, DoT should revise its FBG, as it has already paid the required Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) for two quarters to DoT as the licence fee.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.