“We have not sought any exemption from Department of Telecom to pay for 3G licence spectrum fee. We have sufficient reserves. We don’t need to seek such an exemption,” BSNL Chairman Kuldip Goyal told reporters here. MTNL Chairman Kuldeep Singh said “I think we can generate enough demand over the period to pay for the amount.” MTNL has a cash balance of Rs 5,000 crore. Both MTNL and BSNL face a payment of about Rs 16,750 crore for 3G spectrum auction licence fee. Of the total Rs 6,564 crore belong to MTNL for Delhi and Mumbai while rests of the amount have to pay by BSNL for remaining 20 circles.
Though it was initially believed that the Government may give exemption to these companies in the back drop of their critical financial situation, it was learnt that the DoT is unlikely to give any exemption due to opposition from private operators.
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