The operators had till now refrained from charging their subscribers the Rs 100 licence fee due to the intense competition prevailing in the market. They were, instead, taking the charge in their own books. According to the companies, they had to take this step to expand the market as cellular telephony was a new concept at thattime.

According to sources, both the operators have decided to charge their subscribers this licence fee as they are being faced with low air time usage leading to low billing per subscriber which, in turn, is causing heavy cash losses.