The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has rejected to lower or modify the license fee for Vodafone Idea (Vi) that has been calculated for FY16 and FY17. Vi had objections related to the amount calculated. For FY16, the license fee (LF) demand of Rs 1,749 crore and for FY17, the LF demand of Rs 1,524 crore has been questioned by the telco. The amount also includes the interest. This means a total amount of Rs 3,273 crore as license fee has been questioned by Vodafone Idea. However, as per a listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from Vi, the telco's objection and representation have been disposed of by the DoT.
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Vodafone Idea said that it has written to the telecom department in the past to correct the errors in demands up to FY 2016-17. However, the DoT has not yet acted on the request. In the listing, it was mentioned by Vi that there are several errors in the demanded amount which need to be corrected. Vi event filed a review petition in the Supreme Court (SC) to carry out corrections of these errors, however, the same is still pending.
The telco said in the filing that it is currently "studying" the response from DoT and will take the next course of action on the basis of its understanding.
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It is worth noting that Vodafone Idea was also accused by the Indus Towers of deceiving TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) in an issue related to making contractual payments to the tower company. Indus has already pointed out to TRAI that it is exploring its legal options to go after Vi and make the telco pay close to a billion US dollars that it owes. In the case of Vi, the telco says that it has not been able to make the payments because of not having sufficient funds to do so.
