To merge Airtel and Airtel Broadband Services Limited (ABSL), the former telecom company may have to pay have to pay Rs 400 crores as migration and bank guarantee of one-time spectrum fee. ABSL holds 4G spectrum license. As per the latest report, Airtel has already applied for amalgamation of ABSL.
An official source said that Airtel will have to pay Rs. 406.09 crores equal to the difference between entry fee for UASL of Delhi, Haryana, Kerala and Mumbai service areas, and entry fee paid for merger of Internet licence holding BWA spectrum with UASL for respective service areas.
Unified Licences allows a company to provide all kind of telecom services as per infrastructure it owns. With this merger, Airtel will be able to provide voice call service. However, a company source said that it already has UASL licence while migration fee is for those firms who don't have it.
DoT has asked Airtel to pay total of Rs. 5,201 crores as one-time spectrum fee for spectrum it was allocated beyond 4.4MHz issued with UASL.Here, it is important to note that Airtel subsidiary ABSL holds internet service provider licence while Airtel holds old telecom Unified Access Service Licence that allows company to provide all kind of telecom services. Government issued these earlier with spectrum for about Rs. 1,658 crores.
