The “One Time Spectrum Charge” (OTSC) is a lesser-known concept, but its importance can be recognized from the fact that if Bharti had to pay today, then its outflow will be more than Rs 15 K Cr. And if the dues of all other players (including those out of business) are taken into account then the aggregated outflow value will go as high as Rs 50 K Cr. In this note, we will try to understand what was the rationale for imposing these charges, how the same was calculated, and how much will the outflow shrink if the SC upholds the TDSAT’s judgment.
Background (License Conditions)
Till 1994 License
The 1994 CMTS license bundled a max of 2×4.4 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz band. The extract from the 1994 license is reproduced below for ready reference (page 64 of TRAI’s recommendation dated 11th May 2010).
