The metro operators now say that while they would agree to pay this minimum amount, the Rs 6,023 per subscriber figurewas an unreasonably high one. The operators have approached the Government for concessions on this front stating that the low revenues in these four cities make it impossible for the operators to pay such high licence fees.

The Government has so far not yielded to the cell operators' pressures as it is already in trouble with the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for charging such low licence fees in the first three years. DoT has, in fact, sent letters to each of the eight operators to supply figures for the subscriber base as in the month of June as a benchmark to calculate approximately the licence fees due from each of them. The telecom department is in a bind over the issue as the first operator whose licence fees was due was Modi Telstra in Calcutta whose fourth year began on August 23. While the company would owe the Government over Rs 17 crore as licence fees, going by the June subscriber figures, the company has only Rs six crore as bank guarantees lodged with DoT. Similar would be the casewith other operators.

Apart from this, if the Government does not take action on the companies which fail to clear their dues on time, it would set a legal precedent which other operators may take advantage of at a later date.

The operators who are obviously feeling the heat on account of the impending payments have now begun to indulge in a novel exercise to prune their subscriber numbers in an attempt to understate their licence fee obligations. ``Now everybody wants to be trailing behind as the liabilities become lesser as the numbers come down,'' says a senior official in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Cellular operators explain that earlier they had included numbers of all subscribers, including those who were actually with other operators in other cities but for roaming purposes used another operator in a different city.

These numbers are now being chopped off as these are not ``actual'' subscribers. Also, metro operators are disconnecting numbers which are bad payers ofoutstandings more aggressively now, says a Delhi operator.

Operators are also actively chopping of subscribers who have left the network and moved on, which earlier were allowed to remain on the list as they contributed to the numbers signifying the success rate of the operator.