The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought the legal view of the Attorney General of India to decide on the imposition of a one-time licence fee on Airtel Broadband Services Private Limited (ABSPL), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel. The levy of the fees is due to Bharti Airtel’s proposal to merge ABSPL with its parent company which would, in turn, lead to merger of ABSPL’s existing internet service provider (ISP) licenses in Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana with Bharti Airtel’s unified licences in these circles.

Thus, DoT has sought clarification on whether a fee of Rs 4.36 billion should be imposed on Bharti Airtel for merging the ISP licences of the acquired company with its existing licences. According to the auction regulations, the companies are allowed to use their spectrum as per the licence they hold, but in case of Airtel, the company has not directly acquired the spectrum. Therefore, DoT requires more clarity on the merger before the decision to levy a fee on the telecom operator is finalised.

Bharti Airtel had acquired Wiresless Business Services Private Limited, a company founded by US based chipset manufacturer, Qualcomm, in October 2013 and later renamed it as ABSPL.