Indian and foreign mobile companies may have to pay as much as US$1bn each to the Indian government, amid the 2G licence scandal, according to two senior government officials cited by the Financial Times.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai)…
Indian and foreign mobile companies may have to pay as much as US$1bn each to the Indian government, amid the 2G licence scandal, according to two senior government officials cited by the Financial Times.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recently proposed cancelling the 2G licences of several cellcos, following the resignation of telecom minister A. Raja after months of controversy around the allocation of underpriced 2G spectrum in 2008.
But a senior government official, cited by the Hindu Business Line a few days ago, said that 2G licences were unlikely to be cancelled and added that the government may instead consider imposing penalties.
According to the government officials cited by the FT, the US$1bn bill is mainly targeted at Bharti Airtel, BSNL and Vodafone, as the bids submitted by these three companies for extra spectrum reportedly cost the government US$8bn in missed revenues, as claimed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
But according to Ravishankar Raghavan, a principal in the Tax Group at Indian law firm Majmudar, the government’s final decision in that case is yet to be seen.
“The Indian Parliament is still to make headway over the issue of a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam. The Central Bureau of Investigation has told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that it will wrap up its investigations in two months time and file the charge sheet within a month thereafter. The government is currently facing intense pressure to take some steps in the 2G scam. There are many suggestions, including imposing fines, revoking the licences, or getting compensated for the loss etc, and it’s really difficult to say what the final decision will be. But for now it’s really a question of wait and see,” he explained.
Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and BSNL could not be reached for comment.
