The apex court had in February, 2012 quashed 122, 2G licences. The Supreme Court later in 2013 had asked the government to charge fees from companies that continued operation even after cancellation of their licences on February 2, 2012. The department had earlier estimated the demand at Rs 2,764.29 crore, including basic fee, fine and interest, from nine telecom operators.

The initial demand was a higher amount, but the final amount has been fixed based on the date of new licences issued to the players following the spectrum auction. Now, Department of Telecom has initiated the process to collect Rs. 2,451 crore from 2G players for being allowed to continue services after the Supreme Court order on February 2, 2012.

These players were able to sustain their operations because the DoT approached the court seeking more time to cancel the licences. Although the initial order was to scrap the licences by August 2012.

The Supreme Court told the DoT to collect a fee from the telcom companies based on the reserve price fixed for the auction.

These telecom players like Sistema Shyam Teleservices amounted, Uninor, Idea Cellular, Loop Telecom, S Tel, Spice Communications, Tata Teleservices, Videocon Telecommunications and Etisalat DB.

Some operators such as Etisalat DB Telecom and S Tel wound up their services, while some others such as Uninor and Sistema Shyam Services bought back airwaves in a reduced number of circles through auctions.