Bank guarantees of telcos to be returned, govt likely to tell Supreme Court

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is likely to tell the Supreme Court soon that the government will return bank guarantees (BG) of telcos even for matters which are currently sub judice.

These would be returned in addition to BGs which the telcos had furnished to cover for spectrum payments, which have been deferred for four years under the relief package, government officials said. They added that the government will protect its deferment dues by asking the companies to furnish the BGs a year before the concerned dues are up for payment.