The Government on Tuesday informed the parliament that GSM operators owe Rs 451.75 crore in the form of outstanding payments and charges towards spectrum and licence fees as on March 31, 2010.

Bharti Airtel owes the Government Rs 152.77 crore, the highest outstanding among all operators, said the Minister of State for Telecom and IT, Mr Sachin Pilot, in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Bharti Airtel has an outstanding of Rs 135.11 crore towards spectrum charges and an outstanding of Rs 17.66 crore towards licence fees.

To a query if the Government proposes to penalise defaulting GSM operators, Mr Pilot said that penalty is imposed according to the licence agreement.

Vodafone has the second highest outstanding of Rs 71.77 crore among private GSM players.

Reliance Communication and Reliance Telecom have a combined outstanding of Rs 53.07 crore.

Among the State-owned telecom firms, BSNL has dues of Rs 84.44 crore while MTNL has an outstanding of Rs 17.22 crore. Tata Teleservices is the only operator that has no dues.