It is well-known that the public telecom companies have been cheating the government in paying taxes on the basis of revenue sharing, by showing less revenue or by manipulating the revenues in such a way that it is accounted in areas where less tax is to be paid. Now the DoT has checked the accounts of these private companies and have found out that they have been dodging taxes bey showing less revenue. A total of Rs, 823 crores are due to government by the companies.

The five companies which have asked to pay the balance taxes are 1) Reliance  ( Rs. 310.52 crore), 2)  Tata Teleservices (Rs. 179.76 crore), 3) Airtel (Rs. 161.91 crore), 4) Vodafone (Rs. 107.07 crore), and 5) Idea (Rs. 64.05 crore). These are the major companies other than BSNL and MTNL. The PSUs pays all taxes according to rules, but the private companies dodge them in many ways.

Now we can expect that the private companies may approach the Prime Minister or the Finance Minister for exemption or go to the TDSAT or Courts. Our experience is that somehow they manage not to pay the dues. In the case of 3G illegal roaming also we are seeing the same developments. The people of the country as well as the two telecom PSUs are the victims. The government should act with determination to get the dues.