DoT seeks Rs 15,000 cr for charging Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices for merger clearance

DoT ने मर्जर क्लीयरेंस के लिए भारती एयरटेल और टाटा टेलीसर्विसेज से चार्ज में 15,000 करोड़ रुपये मांगे

HIGHLIGHTS

• Telco usually gives 8% of AGR as license fee and about 5% of SUC as DoT
• Bharti Airtel will pay around Rs 12,000 crore as duties and Rs 2,800 crore Tata Teleservices.

The data tariff war started by Reliance Geo started a consolidation stream in the industry. As a result, many companies stopped operating, and many mergers and acquisitions took place. After the important M & A of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices are going to go through a similar process. In a new update, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has announced that Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices will have to pay about 15,000 crores to get approval for merger deals. These charges will be in the form of pre-condition of M & A for Spectrum Usage Fee (SUC) and one-time spectrum charge (OTCS).

Bharti Airtel and TTSL Merger - pending approval from DoT

According to the report of ET Telecom, an official aware of the development said, "Airtel and TTSL will have to pay 10,000 crores and Rs 2,800 crores respectively as SUCs." He further said, "There is another money of Rs 2,000 after that. Transformation firm Airtel, OTCS, will have to pay the government as a bank guarantee."

Significantly, Bharti Airtel, under the leadership of Sunil Bharti Mittal, is the second largest telco in India and currently the telco in the deficit in the TTSL industry. In its merger deal, both companies have got approval from the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). In this merger, Bharti Airtel will acquire the Consumer Mobility Business of the Tata Sons-promoted carrier under a debt-free, cash-free transaction. Currently, both telescopes are waiting for final approval from DoT.

AGR and legal challenge challenging charges

The official further said that the license fee is being calculated which would be another expenditure for the merging telcos. Telco's AGR is the revenue that it receives from licensed services. There is a dispute over the AGR in the telecom industry. A telco generally pays the license fee as 8% and about 5% of the SUC, which is the major revenue stream for the government.

Till now, Tales had opposed the recovery of various charges from Telcos on the ground, saying that AGR is still in dispute. Even this time, DoT expects two telescopes to challenge OCS charging legally. The official also said that many dues like SUCs and OTCs are being prosecuted in different courts, such that the total payment received by the department will depend on the decisions of various courts and tribunals.

Bharti-Tata Tele Deal was announced for the first time in October 2017. But in a letter in October last year, companies mentioned that Bharti will take care of all charges including Airtel license fee, SUC and OTC, but seeing the bleeding situation, Tata Teleservices, the largest amount of Tata Sons to bankrolling Chances are, even though Airtel has taken it in its own hands to evacuate the outstanding amount.