The Bombay High Court on Monday quashed spectrum charges totalling roughly ₹23,600 crore levied on telecom companies Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi), ruling that the government could not retrospectively impose the charges for the period between 2008 and 2012.A division bench of Justices Manish Pitale and Shreeram V Shirsat held that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) failed to identify any statutory or contractual provision that empowered it to impose the charge years after the spectrum had been allocated and paid for under existing licence agreements.The dispute dates back to 2012, when the then union cabinet decided that telecom operators holding spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz should pay a one-time charge with retrospective effect from July 2008. Based on that decision, DoT issued demand notices to operators including Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. The Indian unit of UK's Vodafone Group Plc and Idea Cellular merged in 2018 to form Vodafone Idea.The one-time spectrum charge was introduced in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's 2012 2G spectrum judgment, with the government seeking to levy an upfront fee on spectrum that operators then held beyond the specified thresholds. The issue has remained under litigation for nearly a decade and a half.On Monday, the high court ruled in favour of the companies. The judgment does not mention the total value of the demands raised. As per their latest annual reports, Airtel had recorded a contingent liability of ₹16,000 crore and Vi recorded ₹7,581 crore as dues in this matter."This ruling marks an important milestone for India's telecom sector by eliminating legal and financial uncertainty and creating a more supportive environment for future investments," Airtel said in a statement.Vi did not respond to ET's request seeking comment till press time Monday.The court noted that under the National Telecom Policy of 1999, telecom operators had migrated to a revenue-sharing regime and were already paying higher spectrum usage charges as additional spectrum was allotted. It observed that the government had itself allocated spectrum beyond 6.2 MHz by charging additional revenue share and later attempted to impose a separate one-time charge.
HC quashes ₹23,600 cr retrospective spectrum dues on Airtel, Voda Idea
The Bombay High Court has cancelled spectrum charges of approximately 23,600 crore rupees for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. The court ruled the government could not retrospectively impose these charges for the period between 2008 and 2012. This decision removes significant financial uncertainty for the telecom sector. It creates a more supportive environment for future investments in India's telecommunications industry.
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