Telecom Lead India: Leading private telecom operators
such as Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone owe over Rs 550 crore in
Inter- connect Usage Charges (IUC) to state-owned BSNL, according to Minister
of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora.
The total outstanding IUC dues come to Rs 550.88 crore,
as other firms such as TTLC, VESL, Spice Cellular and Reliance Telecom also owe
charges to BSNL.
“While Bharti Airtel has outstanding dues of Rs
169.07 crore, Idea, Reliance Communications Ltd and Vodafone have dues of Rs
121.36 crore, Rs 101.63 crore and Rs 49.54 crore, respectively,” said
Milind Deora in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
He added that certain operators have filed petition in
the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).
TDSAT in its judgment has directed BSNL not to log off
private operators. However, Deora said that BSNL has gone in appeal to the
Supreme Court for getting relief.
BSNL losses have more than tripled to Rs 5,997 crore in 2010-11 from Rs 1,823
crore in 2009-10, mainly due to high staff cost and payments made for 3G and
BWA spectrum. In 2010, BSNL had paid over Rs 8,500 crore to the government as
spectrum charges for BWA spectrum.
BSNL posted 8 percent decrease in revenue to Rs 29,688
crore in 2010-11 against Rs 32,045 crore in the previous fiscal, according to
results posted on BSNL’s website.
BSNL borrowed Rs 1,320 cr from the market for capex in 2011-12
Cash-strapped BSNL borrowed Rs 1,320.47 crore
from the market to meet capital expenditure during 2011-12, according to
Minister of State for Communications and IT Milind Deora.
BSNL has fully met its operational expenses through
internal accruals during financial year 2011-12. However, for capex
authorisations, market borrowings were partially resorted to, which stood at Rs
1,320.47 crore as on March 31, 2012.
