Telecom firms owe over Rs 92K cr, Centre tells SC

Leading private telecom firms like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and state-owned MTNL and BSNL have pending licence fee outstanding of over Rs 92,000 crore till date, Centre has told the Supreme Court.

In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Department of Telecom (DoT) said that as per calculations, Airtel owes Rs 21,682.13 crore as a licence fee to the government.

Dues from Vodafone totalled Rs 19,823.71 crore while Reliance Communications owed a total of Rs 16,456.47 crore, the DoT said.

BSNL owed Rs 2,098.72 crore while MTNL owed Rs 2,537.48 crore, it said.

The total amount which has to be recovered from all the telecom firms accrues to Rs 92,641.61 crore as on date, it said.