Bharti to surrender licences in four circles

New Delhi: Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd has decided to surrender four of its fixed line services licences to the Government and claim a refund of Rs 145 crore paid for them.

The company said that it has informed the Department of Telecommunications that it would surrender its licences for the New Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu regions in the wake of a new unified access licensing regime that came into effect in November last year.

The unified licence allows operators to offer both cellular and fixed services. Since Bharti already has unified licences in these four circles, it did not make sense for the company to hold on to the fixed line licences.

By surrendering the licences, Bharti will also get a refund of the performance bank guarantee. It will also be exempted from the rollout obligation of covering villages in the four circles.

"This move is necessitated by a change in the policy which did not take into account fixed and mobile licences being held by the same group company in the same service area, thereby resulting in a redundant licence," a company statement said.