Tata Communications gross revenue under-reporting led to ₹645 crore lower govt. fee collection: CAG

According to the CAG report, the Department of Telecommunications only levied ₹305.25 crore as a licence fee (LF) on Tata Communications

Tata Communications under-reported gross revenue between 2006-07 to 2017-18 which led to a ₹645 crore lower levy of licence fee during the period, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has said in a report.

The CAG, in the report, also said the amount needs to be recovered from Tata Communications Ltd (TCL).

"Audit scrutiny of Audited AGR Statements with reference to Profit & Loss Statements and Balance Sheets in respect of NLD, ILD and ISP-IT licenses of TCL for the period from 2006- 07 to 2017-18 revealed that there was an under-reporting of Gross Revenue (GR) by ₹13,252.81 crore and consequent short levy of LF of ₹950.25 crore," it said on Monday.

According to the CAG report, the Department of Telecommunications only levied ₹305.25 crore as a licence fee (LF) on the company.

"After deducting the DoT's assessment of LF of ₹305.25 crore, the License Fee demanded from TCL by DoT was short by ₹645 crore for the said period, which needs to be demanded and recovered," the report said.

"Considering minimum rate of 0.15% of AGR for Spectrum charges, the estimated revenue foregone on a very conservative basis was ₹67.53 crore towards spectrum charges for one carrier of E and V band and the annual expected revenue foregone was ₹3.30 crore for one Circle alone based on average AGR (adjusted gross revenue) reported by TSPs (telecom service providers) for the year 2020-21," it added.

The E and V bands are expected to match data transmission speed equivalent to optical fibre and are in high demand by telecom operators for expediting the rollout of telecom services.