The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has started work on issuing demand notices seeking Rs 1.4 lakh crore in past dues from mobile-phone firms even as a high-level committee of secretaries met on Tuesday to explore a financial bailout package for the telecom sector.
Sources said the DoT is working out the exact liability that Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd, and other telecom operators owe to the Government following the October 24 Supreme Court judgment on the way statutory dues such as license fee and spectrum usage charge has to be calculated. The demand notices will be issued in next two weeks after an assessment in light of the court order is done, they said adding telecom operators are expected to pay them within Supreme Court mandated 90 days time period.