Five telcos to get notices in licence row

UNITECH WIRELESS

22 licences

Group companies of Indian realty firm Unitech that were given 22 telecom licences had not fulfilled eligibility norms for getting these licences, the auditor said. The companies had suppressed facts, had less share capital than required, and submitted false certificates for paid-up capital among other deficiencies found, the auditor said.The telecom venture has since been bought into by Norway’s Telenor, which currently owns 67.3% of the venture with Unitech holding the remainder.

LOOP TELECOM

21 licences

Loop Telecom, which was issued 21 telecom licences, suppressed facts, its authorised share capital was much less than required, and it did not have telecom as the main object clause in its memorandum of association among other flaws, the auditor said.

VIDEOCON TELECOMM

21 licences

Videocon Telecommunications, formerly Datacom Solutions, is part of India’s Videocon group and was issued 21 licences. The auditor said the company had suppressed facts, had much less-than-required authorised share capital and submitted false certificates regarding the company’s paid-up capital.

ETISALAT DB TELECOM

15 licences

Formerly Swan Telecom, the company had been given 13 licences and also later merged with itself another firm that had won 2 licences. Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat in late 2008 bought about 45% of the company that was then renamed Etisalat DB Telecom. The auditor said Swan had suppressed facts, had less-than-required authorised share capital, and submitted false certificates from its company secretary regarding paid-up capital. The auditor also said a unit of India’s No. 2 telecom firm Reliance Communications held over 10% of equity in Swan at the time of issue of the licences, which is a violation of rules. The telecom minister said they would refer Swan’s case to the corporate affairs ministry to see if “front companies” were involved.

S TEL

6 licences

S Tel, which was given six licences, suppressed facts, had much less than the authorised share capital required to get the licences, submitted false certificate from its company secretary regarding paid up capital. Bahrain Telecommunications Co had bought a stake in S Tel, whose other major shareholder is India’s Siva Group.

Kapil Sibal gets cracking on BSNL restructuring

NEW DELHI: New telecom minister Kapil Sibal has got cracking on reviving ailing BSNL, which recently announced a loss of Rs 1,823 crore for the year to end-March , its first ever in its 10-year history as a corporate entity. Top officials from Mr Sibal’s ministry will meet their counterparts from the finance ministry, planning commission, IT, department of Industrial Policy & Promotion amongst others on Tuesday on restructuring the PSU, executives aware of the development told ET.

BSNL, once a monopoly in domestic telephony, has been deteriorating in financial performance over the years as it could not expand on time. On the agenda for Tuesday’s meet is the implementation of the Pitroda committee recommendations , which includes a 30% stake sale by listing BSNL and staff cut by 100,000. Last month, an internal panel of the telecoms ministry, under then minister A Raja , after sitting on the Pitroda committee report for several months, rejected most key proposals in it.

In late 2009, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, worried about the steep decline in BSNL’s profitability over the
years, called in Sam Pitroda along with banker Deepak Parekh to suggest measures for revival . They in turn recommended a strategic 30% stake sale, staff cut by 100,000 and also raising funds from sale of its infrastructure , such as signal towers and real estate, to revive the flagging fortunes of state-owned BSNL.

The state-owned telco’s performance has been touching new lows every year since 2007. ET had reported on Monday that BSNL’s losses for the year-ended march were as high as Rs 5,955 crore and that the company had managed to show a lower figure due to its Rs 4,132 crore income from nontelecom related activities. Off this, about close to Rs 2500 crore was from interest from its cash reserves, which has dipped to from Rs 28,660 crore Rs 40,000 crore in 2008.

For the fiscal year to end-March 2009, BSNL showed a measly Rs 575 crore as profit. Even this was possible only because interest income from its cash reserves was about Rs 3,900 crore. In 2007-08 , its net profit was Rs 3,009 crore on interest income of Rs 4,004 crore, proving that its profits in the past three years has less to do with its telecom business.

The DoT’s internal panel that looked into Pitroda committee’s recommendations had said that BSNL’s IPO must be ‘deferred for two years to allow the telco to improve its performance and get the right valuation’ . It had also rejected the Pitroda’s committee’s proposal to allow BSNL to bring in top professionals, including a CEO from the private sector, and said that ‘implementing such a move selectively for top-level positions, and also in just one PSU would have wider repercussions’ .

BSNL ups FY10 losses to Rs 5,955 cr from Rs 1,823 Cr

NEW DELHI: New telecommunications minister Kapil Sibal has his work cut out — to pull out BSNL from its march on the road to ruin after it has emerged that the telco’s actual losses were nearly Rs 6,000 crore for the year ended March 10.

BSNL, which suffered from rampant political interference and neglect under former telecoms minister A Raja , had recently announced a loss of Rs 1,823 crore for the year to March, a first for the company since it was set up. But financials uploaded by the telco on its website reveal that losses were as high as Rs 5,955 crore for this period. In fact the losses would have have been much higher but for the Rs 4,132 crore income from non-telecom-related activities . Off this, about Rs 2500 crore was from interest on its cash reserves , which too dipped to Rs 28,660 crore from Rs 40,000 crore in 2008.

The financial performance of BSNL, once a monopoly in domestic telephony, has been deteriorating over the years as it could not expand on time to compete with private mobile phone firms, such as Bharti Airtel, which took decisions quickly.

Executives with the telco point out that political interference coupled with legal challenges and probes into its tenders for mobile networks resulted in the telco being able to increase its mobile capacity by a mere 20 million since 2005, even as the country added over 450 million mobile users during this time. BSNL’s initial tender for 63 million global system for mobile communications (GSM) in 2006 was slashed to 23 million by Mr Raja in what was his first major decision after taking charge of the ministry.

This tender was further cut to 14 million lines after Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) that was slated to supply 40% of the contract failed to do so. Its follow-on tender for 93 million GSM lines, the world’s largest equipment order , was cancelled after a series of controversies, even as rivals such as Bharti, Reliance Communications and the Tatas expanded to feed the expanding customer base.

The Parliamentary Accounts Committee had recently pointed out that the ‘single most important reason’ behind BSNL’s decline was failure of the tendering process, leading to non-supply of equipment , which eventually resulted in the stare-owned operator losing market share.

BSNL can impose max penalty on RCOM for masked calls: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday upheld BSNL’s right to impose the maximum penalty on the Anil Ambani group firm Reliance Communications (RCOM) for wrongly routing international calls through the state-run telco’s network as local connections by tampering with Calling Line Identification (CLI) numbers.

RCOM, India’s secondlargest mobile phone operator, slumped to a record low on BSE after the apex court order. Its shares fell 2.2% to Rs 128, the lowest since listing in March 2006. The BSE sensex gained 1.4% on Monday.

A three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice S H Kapadia said that as per BSNL’s interconnect agreement with RCOM, the staterun firm had the right to levy a penalty on all calls routed by the R-ADAG firm through its network, including local calls, based on the highest call rate slab.

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Number portability across the country from Jan 20: Sibal

ROHTAK: The much-awaited mobile number portability (MNP), a service that allows subscribers to change service providers while keeping the same number, will be available to more than 700 million Indian subscribers from January 20, 2011, new telecom minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday, while launching this facility in Rohtak in Haryana.

“Mobile number portability that we are inaugurating in Haryana today will be available on January 20 next year across the country. We will be technically and commercially ready,” Mr Sibal said. Telecom department officials present at the event said that BSNL customers had switched to Idea Cellular and used their examples to demonstrate this facility during the launch.

Mobile phone users in Haryana will be able to switch among nine operators — Airtel, Idea Cellular, BSNL, Aircel, Loop, Vodafone , Etisalat, Sistema and Videocon. The customer has to pay a maximum of Rs 19, the lowest in the world, to migrate to a new mobile phone company. The new operator has the option to provide the service at a lesser rate or even free of cost.

DoT panel to survey before issuing notices

NEW DELHI: Armed with regulator Trai’s recommendations to cancel 69 new licences for missing roll-out schedule, the telecom ministry has asked its internal wing to conduct field survey in cases of each operator before issuing a show cause notices to them.

According to official sources, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked its Telecom Enforcement Resource Monitoring (TERM) cell to collect data after conducting field surveys in case of each operator and submit the report. This, the officials said, is done by DoT on its own from time to time to ensure that roll-out of services took place as per licence terms and conditions for effective utilisation of the spectrum.

Trai had last week submitted suo moto recommendations asking the government to cancel 69 new licences of five operators, including Etisalat, Uninor and Videocon, issued in January 2008 by former telecom minister A Raja as these licencees have failed to roll out services at all or for improper launch of services.

Asked whether DoT may initiate action to cancel the licences, officials said cancellation may not be a viable solution as this would cause hardship to customers and new telecom minister Kapil Sibal may decide on the matter soon.

The regulator had recommended that licences be cancelled in at least 15 circles given to Etisalat, a company earlier known as Swan that CAG had dubbed as a front company of Anil Ambani group, and 10 circles given to Sistema-Shyam. Sistema-Shyam, a JV between Shyam group and Russian giant Sistema, has claimed that they have rolled out services in all 22 circles and has over seven million subscribers in its kitty.

Similarly, Uninor, a JV between Unitech and Telenor of Norway, has rolled out services in 12 circles and was in process to start services in others. Trai, which had recommended penalty for non-compliance with the roll-out obligations, said that this amount could be huge.

“So, we had suggested that these licences should be cancelled. This would vacate enormous amount of spectrum (radio waves) and this can be given to companies that are serious about meeting the schedule,” Trai report has said.

MNP rollout to begin from Haryana on November 25

PUNE: Mobile number portability , the much talked and the much postponed service is finally seeing the light of the day. While the Department of Telecom has already announced November 25 as the launch date, just as it has done earlier, the announcements have started from cellular operators. Idea Cellular has taken the lead with its ‘Switch to Idea’ commercials debuting on TV channels.

MNP entitles a cellular subscribe to switch from his cellular operator to any other operator, and retain his mobile number. It is being rolled out on 25 November in Haryana circle where subscribers can switch in between any of the operators. Haryana has eight cellular operators Airtel, Idea, BSNL, Aircel, Loop, Vodafone, Etisalat DB, and Videocon . According to figures from Cellular Operators Association of India, the circle has 11.68 million subscribers as on October 31, 2010. India’s total cellular subscriber base stands at around 700 million.

There is no clarity yet about what will be next after Haryana. In the discussion between DoT and operators, it is decided that all operators will do it at one go. Even if one operator is not ready with the systems, it will create a problem for other operators. Rajat Mukarji, chief corporate affairs officer at Idea Cellular confirmed that that the company will start MNP on November 25 from Haryana , but was waiting to hear from the DoT about the roll out in other circles.

Offlate, mobile phones or rather the SIM cards, have become an important tool in investigation of crimes, as it helps the police establish the presence of its owner (the criminals, in this case) in a particular area. However, barring Delhi Police, which is in constant touch with the operators, the police in other states does not seem to be clear about MNP.

Recently, Alok Kumar joint commissioner (crime) Bangalore said that MNP will create a headache for investigation agencies as offenders will misuse the ‘60-day’ portability period as they can go ‘off-network’ and would be untraceable till they come ‘on-network’ .

Mr Mukarji clarified that the portability period was only seven days from the time a customer puts in a porting request . He also said that that the ‘off-network’ to ‘on-network’ time, which is the when the customer is switched off by one operator and switched on by the other operator, was only overnight.

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Ethical call: Govt plans to ask companies to name lobbyists in annual reports

NEW DELHI: The government plans to ask companies to disclose the names of lobbyists employed by them and their positions on issues affecting their business as it looks to bring in greater transparency into its dealings with companies that are trying to influence decision-making.

Such disclosures will be voluntary and companies may be asked to list these details in their annual reports , said a senior official with the ministry of corporate affairs.

But they will need to provide an explanation if the information is missing from their annual reports, the person said. He requested anonymity because the ministry was formulating the guidelines.

The ongoing 2G spectrum controversy has brought the role of lobbyists into the limelight. The alleged role of a corporate lobbyist is being probed by investigative agencies.

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Another embarrassment for govt as SC questions appointment CVC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has questioned the appointment P J Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner. Questioning the appointment the apex court said how Thomas would work as CVC since a chargesheet naming him is pending in a criminal case.

"Without looking into the file, we are concerned that if a person is an accused in a criminal case how he will function as CVC," a bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia observed after Attorney General G E Vahanvati placed the file in a sealed cover.

The bench said it will go through the file and posted the matter after two weeks.
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Babus deny involvement in 2G spectrum scam

Two of the four retired bureaucrats reportedly being probed by the Cabinet Secretariat for their links with lobbyist Nira Radia have strongly denied having anything to do with the telecom sector and 2G spectrum allocation , while in service and since retirement.

The Times of India on Thursday reported that four ex-bureaucrats—former Trai chairman and disinvestment secretary Pradip Baijal; fomer economic affairs secretary CM Vasudev; former industrial policy and promotion secretary Ajay Dua; and former Trai member DPS Seth were being investigated for their connections with Noesis Strategic Consulting Services owned by Nira Radia .

Former secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion Ajay Dua told ET that he was associated with Radia’s Vaishnavi Corporate Communications as a non-executive director for a few months in 2008-09 . But the firm’s board never met during his tenure and Mr Dua said he had resigned suo moto from the directorship in January 2009.

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2G scam: Trai asks govt to annul 62 licences for rollout delays

THE telecom regulator has asked the government to cancel 62 of the 122 licences issued by former telecom minister A Raja under controversial circumstances in 2008 to telecom operators, including joint ventures of international operators such as Telenor ASA , Emirates Telecommunications and Sistema JSFC , because they had not been able to launch services in time.

The recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India — which claims that its views were ignored by Mr Raja — strengthens the possibility that several of the licences issued in 2008 could be revoked.

On an action-packed day, the telecom department, under new minister Kapil Sibal, decided to seek legal opinion on the validity of the telecom licences dished out by Mr Raja after the country’s national auditor said that 70% of these mobile permits were obtained through fraudulent means, an official aware of the development told ET.

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Senior politician under scanner in 2G spectrum scandal

Investigating agencies are examining the role of a senior politician, believed to be close to real estate developers in Maharashtra, who may have introduced the beneficiaries of the 2G spectrum scam to ousted telecom minister A Raja.

A key beneficiary was Swan Telecom, then controlled by DB Group, which is in the real estate business. Swan was allowed to jump the queue for licences and airwaves, which investigators suspect was due to its proximity to this politician.

Agencies are probing the nature of the politician’s links with Swan Telecom, which bagged a licence for Rs 1,651 crore, but later Etisalat of the UAE became a partner with 45% holding after paying $900 million, or about Rs 4,000 crore, triggering allegations that licences were sold at throwaway prices to a favoured few.

Swan Telecom is now called Etisalat DB. Investigating agencies are also probing the links between this politician and two directors of Indian descent in a Mauritius-based investment arm of the UAE firm.

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Supreme Court asks Vodafone to deposit Rs 2,500 crore

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday directed telecom major Vodafone to deposit Rs.2,500 crore ($550 million) as part of a tax liability in the takeover of Hutch Essar group's India operations.

An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia also said Vodafone has to provide a bank guarantee of Rs.8,500 crore to the government. The cash amount of Rs.2,500 crore has to be deposited in three weeks and the bank guarantee within eight weeks, it said.

Vodafone sticks to its claim;says no tax payable in Hutch deal

NEW DELHI: Sticking to its claim that no tax is payable on its $11.2 billion deal in 2007, telecom giant Vodafone today said it is looking forward to the final hearing in February next year.

"After today's hearing, Vodafone looks forward to the matter being heard in final on the February 24, 2010, when the central issue of jurisdiction will be thoroughly reviewed by the Supreme Court," Vodafone spokesperson said.

In a major setback to the telco, the Supreme Court today asked it to deposit Rs 2,500 crore in three weeks. Besides, the Court has also directed the company to furnish bank guarantees worth Rs 8,500 crore in eight weeks.

Vodafone said it will provide the deposit and the bank guarantee as asked by the Court.

However, Vodafone maintained that it is confident that there is no tax liability resulting from the transaction and all the tax and legal advice it has received remains consistent with this view.

Vodafone had been maintaining that no tax is payable by the company and that Indian authorities has no right to tax the deal which took place on foreign soil.

The tax tangle between Indian tax authorities and Vodafone was been closely watched by other MNCs as the outcome of landmark case can give some indications on the future M&A policies in India.

The case relates to the acquisition of Indian assets in 2007. Vodafone had bought 67 per cent stake in Hutchinson Essar from Honk Kong based Huthiscon Telecom International in 2007 for $11.2 billion. Post the deal, the company was renamed Vodafone Essar. India's Essar Group still holds 33 per cent stake in the firm.

In September, the income tax department had issued an order raising a tax demand of Rs 11,217.95 crore on Vodafone International treating it as an assessee in default for failure to deduct tax as required before making a payment of USD 11,076 million (about Rs 55,000 crore) to Hutchison Telecommunication International.

Vodafone has claimed that no tax is payable by the company and the Indian tax authorities have no right to seek tax as the transaction was executed outside the country.

The Supreme Court has fixed February 24, 2011 as the final date for full hearing of the Vodafone case.

CAG to table report on 2G spectrum tomorrow in Parliament

NEW DELHI: The much-talked about report of the CAG on the 2G spectrum allocation is likely to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow, which may give fresh fodder to the opposition already demanding a JPC probe into the matter.

The BJP and its allies as also the Left parties, AIADMK, SP and RJD are demanding a JPC to examine the issue amid the CAG report learnt to have accused the telecom ministry for undervaluing 2G spectrum, which has caused revenue loss of up to Rs1,76,700 crore to the government.

A senior minister said the notice saying that the government wants to table the CAG report will be given by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Regarding a discussion on the CAG report, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has already said the government is ready to discuss every issue including Spectrum but a decision on whether to list it for discussion has to be taken before the CAG report goes to the Public Affairs Committee or any committee.

The CAG has already submitted the report to the government.

While the opposition is insisting on a JPC probe into the issue, Government has ruled it out saying it is not required.

Government has already ruled out any statement from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue saying there is no such move as of now.

Govt says JPC demand in 2G spectrum issue 'meaningless'

NEW DELHI: With the Opposition insisting on a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into alleged irregularities in allocation of 2G spectrum, the government on Monday dismissed the demand as "meaningless" and said they should allow Parliament to function.

"Demand for JPC is completely meaningless. Let BJP allow the House to run," Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here minutes after a united opposition forced adjournment of Question Hour in both Houses of Parliament demanding a JPC probe into the spectrum issue.

Under attack from opposition, Telecom Minister A Raja resigned from the government late last night in connection with the issue.

Chidambaram said the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will be referred to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, which has representation of all parties.

"The CAG report will go to the PAC. What is PAC? It is chaired by the Leader of Opposition. In fact, all political parties are represented in that," Chidambaram said.

"Let PAC go into the matter. The CAG report will be discussed comprehensively in the PAC," he said.

Kapil Sibal given charge of Telecom Ministry

New Delhi: HRD Minister Kapil Sibal was today given the additional charge of the Telecom Ministry by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a development that takes the portfolio away from DMK at least for the time being.

Official sources said Sibal will hold the charge of the Ministry held by A Raja, who yesterday resigned facing allegations of scam in 2G spectrum allocation.

The arrangement is seen to be temporary in view of the ongoing Parliament session when issues related to the ministry are to be handled at the senior level, particularly at a time when the ministry is facing allegations of corruption of huge magnitude.

By tradition, a reshuffle of the Council of Ministers is not undertaken during a Parliament session.

Sibal, a renowned lawyer-turned-politician, was a week earlier given the additional charge of Ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, which fell vacant after incumbent Prithviraj Chavan was made Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

In another decision, V Narayansamy, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, was given additional charge of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which also fell vacant after Chavan's departure.

Dell enters smartphone business in India

Dell today launched two new smartphones in the Indian market. These phones, called XCD28 and XCD35, run on Android 2.1 platform.
Both these phones have specially been designed for emerging markets and have been launched first in India.
Dell has said its target group for the smartphones is both the youth as well as to office-going folk.
Mahesh Bhalla, general manager, consumer and small-medium businesses, Dell India, said that "These phones are powerful enough to handle all shorts of tasks. We will look at selling them to corporates for different use cases like, sales force automation, CRM and ERP etc. Health and education are other areas for which we will look at developing applications."

When asked about marketing strategy, Bhalla said, “I would like to grow through word of mouth but initially we will have mass media campaigns.”

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Telecom industry cannot afford tariff war in 3G space: Bharti

Bharti Airtel today said there is no possibility of a tariff war in 3G services as operators have shelled out high prices for bagging spectrum.

Bharti Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor told reporters here that it was unlikely that there would be a tariff war in 3G space under rational circumstances. "Irrationality can never be explained," he added.

With the entry of new players, the Indian telecom sector has seen fierce tariff wars eating into profitability of telcos.

Bharti Airtel had bagged airwaves to offer 3G services in 13 out of 22 telecom circles. It plans to launch the service before the the end of this calendar year.

For having a pan-India footprint, Kapoor said the company is in talks with "quality operators who have got 3G" for roaming pacts.


Rival Tata Teleservices yesterday launched 3G services with a tariff of 0.66 paise per second. State-run BSNL and MTNL are already offering 3G services.

There were speculations in the market that Bharti will enter into strategic alliance with Vodafone and Idea for rolling out 3G services pan India.

3G mobile services will allow high-speed content download and broadband services.

Airtel had paid the highest amount of Rs 12,295.46 crore for securing 3G spectrum (radio waves) in 13 telecom circles.

They include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, which account for 21 per cent of India's data traffic and are expected to have the strongest uptake of 3G services.

Bharti Airtel, which operates in 19 countries, already offers 3G services in Seychelles. It is also running 3G broadband services in Sri Lanka, Jersey and Guernsey.

HC heat on Raja over BSNL, MTNL appointments

Telecom minister A Raja faces further trouble with the Delhi High Court on Wednesday wanting to know the Centre’s stand on alleged irregularities in the appointment of CMDs of BSNL and MTNL. Raja faces charges of pushing his favourites into the posts by following an “arbitrary and mala fide appointment procedure."

The high court directive comes 10 days after the Supreme Court questioned his continuation as minister while facing serious allegations and slammed the CBI for its “slipshod” investigations into the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

Court notices have also gone to Kuldeep Singh and RK Upadhyay, who were recommended for the post of CMD in MTNL and BSNL, respectively. NGO Telecom Watchdog and Executive Association of Sanchar Nigam moved the court seeking quashing of the appointment procedure.
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BSNL threatens to stop WiMAX rollout across rural India

NEW DELHI: Blaring its disgust at operating as a social workhorse without compensation, BSNL has bluntly told the government that it will continue building wireless internet services across rural India only with a grant of Rs 2,395 crore more to support an unviable business.

The state-owned telecom company has written to the telecom department it is against rolling out services on the WiMAX technological platform without adequate financial support. ET has seen a copy of the letter dated September 29.

BSNL’s move, unusual for a state-owned company, is a sign that it has had enough of fulfilling the government’s social obligations without rewards. Though it made several threats in the past to stop its unviable businesses in rural India, including the subsidised landline connections it offers there, this is the first instance of the telco stopping a project rollout on the grounds that it did not make commercial sense.

BSNL’s grouse is that the work-without-pay culture to run unviable businesses that incur huge capital and operational expenditure has led to significant losses. The company posted a loss of Rs 1,822.65 crore for the year to end March, a first in its history.

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MTNL posts net loss of Rs.605 crore in Q2

MUMBAI: State-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) today said it has registered a net loss of Rs 604.89 crore for the quarter ended September 30, on account of high employee cost.

The company had a net profit of Rs 21.30 crore for the July-September quarter last year, MTNL said in a statement.

"Staff cost has increased in comparison with the corresponding period last year on account of wage revision implemented and accounted for in Q4 of 2009-10 and thereafter," the company said.

Further, with reference to Q1 of 2010-11, the difference in arrears of wage revision of Rs 44 crore for 2008-09 and 2009-10 is also accounted for this quarter, it added.

Total income has also decreased to Rs 1,095.23 crore for the quarter ended September 30, from Rs 1,120.80 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

The company, which has paid a one-time charge of Rs 11,097.9 crore on account of 3G and BWA liability (over 15-20 years), has amortised Rs 157.6 crore for Q2 FY'11.

MTNL with 5.28 million subscribers, offers services in two circles -- Delhi and Mumbai as on December 31, 2010.

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