Shri Milind Deora, Minister of State for Communications and IT, has stated in Lok Sabha that the private telecom companies are in arrears to the government a sum of more than Rs. 39,000 towards Spectrum Usage Charges, One-time Charges for holding air waves above the licence limit, Licence Fee, Penalties and Interest etc.
The arrears on additional spectrum charges are as follows: Bharti Airtel Rs. 5,201 crore, Vodafone Rs. 3,599 crore, Ida Cellular rs. 1,882 crore, GSM Operators (Reliance and Tata Teleservices) Rs. 2,970 crores.

In addition, these private companies are to pay around Rs. 4,000 croe for Spectrum usage charges, Rs. 4,187 towards penalties and interest.

The government should take strict action to collect these arrears at the earliest. It should not vacillate and surrender in the way it was doing earlier.