India Minister: Telecom Operators Owe INR4.52 Bln In Bandwidth, License Fees

By R. Jai Krishna Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW DELHI (Dow Jones)--Indian telecommunications companies offering services on the Global System for Mobile, or GSM, platform owed the federal government INR4.52 billion for bandwidth and license fees as at the end of the fiscal year on March 31, junior communications minister Sachin Pilot said Tuesday. Bharti Airtel Ltd. (532454.BY), the country's largest mobile services operator by subscribers, needs to pay INR1.35 billion in bandwidth fees and another INR176.6 million in license fees, Pilot told law makers in the lower house of Parliament. Reliance Communications Ltd. (532712.BY) owes INR485.4 million and INR40.3 million for license and bandwidth fees, respectively, he said. Vodafone-Essar Ltd., the Indian unit of Vodafone Group PLC., has outstanding bandwidth fees of INR717.7 million, while Idea Cellular Ltd.(532822.BY) needs to pay INR70.7 million in bandwidth fees, the junior minister said. State-run companies Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.(500108.BY) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL.YY) have outstanding license fees totalling INR7.3 million and INR944.4 million, respectively. MTNL also needs to pay INR164.9 million in bandwidth fees, Pilot said. -By R. Jai Krishna, Dow Jones Newswires, +91.11.4356.3333; krishna.jai@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 27, 2010 05:12 ET (09:12 GMT)