New Delhi, March 7: The AV Birla group today shot off yet another letter to the government stating that the shareholding structure of Idea Cellullar Ltd as submitted by the Tatas was “incorrect and inconsistent” with the licence conditions.

Idea Cellular was created after a merger between the Tata group’s GSM business and Birla AT&T.

The Birlas want the Tatas to bring down their equity to below 10 per cent in Idea Cellular to comply with the licence conditions as they also operate a CDMA service under the brand name of Tata Indicom.

The existing licence conditions stipulate that a firm cannot hold over 10 per cent in more than one licensee company in the same service area for basic, cellular and unified access services.

The latest missive from Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd (ABNL) ?the Birlas’ primary promoter company in Idea Cellular ? comes hours before the expiry of the government deadline to the two corporate houses for submitting details of shareholding in Idea Cellular.

The letter said the Birla group held a 50.15 per cent stake in Idea Cellular through Grasim, Hindalco, Birla TMT and ABNL.

In August last year, the government had clearly stated that Tata Industries and seven other group companies had a 27.48 per cent stake as promoters, while another entity ? Tata Televentures ? owned 4.21 per cent.

AT&T Cellular and other individuals of the AT&T group held 32.91 per cent equity, which has since been bought by the Tatas and Birlas in equal proportion.

In today’s letter, ABNL made references to a DoT communication dated August 22, 2005 to point out that “the DoT has unambiguously and officially recorded Tata Industries, as well as other companies and individuals of the Tata group, as promoters of Idea”.

The Tatas, in a letter to the DoT on February 27, had asserted that reference to the ‘Tata group’ was misconceived and ill-founded and Tata Industries is not a promoter of Idea Cellular.

ABNL today said contention of the Tatas was “inaccurate and false”.

The Tatas have also submitted the details of the shareholding pattern of group companies in Idea Cellular last evening, although officials refused to divulge any details.