Another call drop for India’s telecom sector

On Wednesday, Indian telecom companies found their voice of anguish abruptly cut off, it seems. In its observations on a plea of relief for them filed by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the Supreme Court said it saw no merit in letting them stagger their payments of dues to the exchequer over a period of 20 years, nor in waiving associated penalties and interest on unpaid sums—as reportedly sought by the government petition. DoT’s plea, it appears, was an outcome of consultations held by the government with industry representatives over the past few months. The court, however, chided the department for what it apparently saw as a bald attempt to redo the math with industry inputs, and was insistent that its order last October be implemented, the one that threw the sector into financial turmoil. Back then, the court had lumped telecom operators with a huge bill as part of a verdict on a long-running dispute they had with the Centre. They had argued that the revenues they compulsorily had to share with the government did not include what they got from services that did not use telecom spectrum, but lost the case. As a result, they were asked to cough up a total of nearly ₹1.7 trillion, according to reports. This was an eye-popper of a demand. It also dealt a heavy blow to large operators that had long been in operation, such as Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, with the former’s very survival suddenly cast in doubt.