NEW DELHI, Nov 4: Tata Teleservices Ltd signed the licence and interconnect agreement for the Andhra Pradesh circle with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Tuesday evening. The company has deposited the first year's licence fee of Rs 120.20 crore along with the penal interest of Rs 2.06 crore for failing to make the payment within the stipulated date.

DoT had set September 30 as the deadline for letter of intent holders for basic telephone services to sign the licence and interconnect agreements.

Tata Teleservices proposes to provide 50,000 telephone lines at the end of the first year, 1.5 lakh lines at the end of the second year and three lakh lines at the end of the third year of the licence period. It is committed to provide 20 per cent of the direct exchange lines (DEL) for public telephones in 6,800 villages. The company intends to use indigenous equipment for 85.92 per cent of the basic services network. Tata Teleservices is a joint venture between some Tata group companies, AIG of Mauritius and BELL Canada International and its subsidiaries. Licence and Interconnect agreements have so far been signed by Bharti Telenet for the Madhya Pradesh circle, Reliance Telecom for the Gujarat circle and Hughes Ispat for the Maharashtra circle.

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