New Delhi, July 7: In a major relief for private telecom operators, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal today redefined the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and said revenues arising only from telecom services should be included for the purpose of levying licence fee.

The tribunal has directed the department of telecommunications (DoT) and the government to produce all the documents they relied on to levy the licence fee on operators.

“Trai shall hear the government as well as the licensees (telecom companies) and consider the matters,” the TDSAT said and directed the Trai to conduct a public hearing.

In a 45-page order, Justice N. Santosh Hegde, TDSAT chairman said, “We have no difficulty in accepting the arguments of the petitioners (the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India) that it can only be from the licensed activity only.”

It also directed the telecom regulator to submit the report within three months.

The TDSAT has slammed the DoT for rejecting the advice of the telecom regulator on AGR, which is mandatory.

“There has not been proper and effective consultation... The DoT has not given due weightage while considering the recommendation of the Trai... It is mandatory under the Trai Act,” TDSAT said.

The government has been maintaining that it has sought recommendations from “internationally reputed consultants”.

The TDSAT further noted that in a letter written by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in 1999, the CAG had expressed concerns over the correctness of the fee and the DoT paid no heed to it.

In August 1999, under the National Telecom Policy, the DoT signed licence agreement with operators fixing 15 per cent as its licence fee on the total revenue of the licencee company (operators).

Later, the government started charging licence fee on the basis of total gross revenue of the operators, including revenue generated from other operations of the group.

Opposing it, the Aupsi had approached the tribunal and prayed to quash the demand notices issued by the department of telecommunications.