After SC's lashing, Telecos make part payment towards their statutory dues to DoT

Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices have made part payment of Rs 2500 crore and Rs 2197 crore, respectively, while Bharti Airtel made a payment of Rs 10,000 crore today. The part payments were made amid concerns expressed by the Reserve Bank that the debt-ridden telecom companies may default their loans.

According to the Telecom Department, Airtel has total dues of Rs 35,586 crores. It now owes around 25,586 crores to the department, said the reports. Vodafone had pending dues of Rs 53,000 crores(Rs 24,729 crore of spectrum dues and Rs 28,309 crore towards licence fee) and it still has to pay around 50,500 crores.Tata Teleservices has to make a total payment of 13,823 crores.

"Total amount of Rs 10,000 crore has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor," said Bharti Airtel,according to reports .

"We are in the process of completing the self assessment exercise expeditiously and will duly make the balance payment upon completion of the same, before the next date of hearing in the SC," it added.

"The board will take further stock of the situation to see how further additional payments can be made," Vodafone said in a regulatory filing. Another Rs 1000 crores will be paid before the end of the week, it said.

"Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) have made a payment of Rs. 2,197 crore to the DoT towards License Fees and Spectrum Usage Charges," the company said in a press release on Friday.

The last date for clearing all the dues is March 17.

The Supreme Court on Friday lashed out at the telecom companies for not obeying its order to pay the dues of thousands of crores to the government.

The top court had ordered the telecom companies to pay adjusted gross revenues worth Rs. 92,000 crore to the government.

"Not a penny has been deposited... Is it not the outcome of money power? We don't know who is creating this nonsense, is there no law left in the country?" the The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah had said lambasting the telecoms.

The judges even said they were "anguished" and felt they "should not work in this court".

The court has also summoned the managing directors of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, MTNL, BSNL, Reliance Communications, Tata Telecommunication and others on Mar 17.

After the apex court's bashing, the department of telecom had revoked its order preventing coercive action against telecom companies defaulting on payments of their statutory dues.

Meanwhile, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the central bank is closely watching the impact of the crisis on the banking sector, said reports.