New Delhi:
The government is unlikely to refund licence fee of telecom companies, whose licences were quashed by the Supreme Court in 2012, NDTV has learned.
Thus, Loop, STel and Etisalat DB are not likely to get any refund from the government for the one-time licence fee they had paid.
The issue of refund arose after the government decided to offset licence fees paid by quashed licencees if they won in the spectrum auction. However, this led to a demand for refund by many of the operators, who either did not participate in the auction or were unsuccessful in their bids. Some of the affected operators had suggested fees be refunded, or that they be offset against any payment due as a result of the upcoming auction.
The Department of telecommunication (DoT) had requested the opinion of the Attorney General, "Whether entree fee paid by the licensees whose licences have been ordered to quashed by the Supreme Court, needs to be refunded/ released/ adjusted as requested by the licensees if
- They did not participate in the auction
- Participated in the auction but did not win any spectrum?"
The Attorney General, NDTV has learned, is of the view that, "No refund of licence fee for telcos who did not participate in auction. No refund for those who did not win in the auction. Only auction winners to be allowed to offset previous fees."
According to the AG, the licence condition says that one-time entry fees paid by operators when winning licences are "non-refundable".
This means that the government will allow auction winners like Telenor, Sistema and Videocon to offset their previous licence fee payments against their auction payments, but licence fee of telcos, who either did not participate on the last auction or were unsuccessful, will be remain with the government.
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