The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked the Department of Northeastern Region (DoNER) to refund satellite bandwidth charges paid by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to Antrix Corporation for providing telecom coverage in the northeast during the 12th Plan.

At present, BSNL pays high satellite bandwidth charges annually to Antrix -  the commercial and marketing arm of Indian Space Research Organisation. In 2012-13 and 2013-14, BSNL paid about Rs 95 million as bandwidth charges to Antrix Corporation.

DoT has stated that a reimbursement is justified as the cost of service provisioning in the northeast region using satellites is very high and leads to losses for the state-owned operator.

The department has asked DoNER to fully compensate BSNL for charges paid to Antrix Corporation to ensure viability of service provisioning in the northeast region. The proposed reimbursements for the 12th Plan will be effective from 2013-14 onwards.

The latest developments come at a time when the Department of Space is likely to waive such charges payable by BSNL to sustain the loss-making service providers’ operations in the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep archipelagos.