India's under-pressure telecom firms hit with $13 billion bill

India's beleaguered telecom companies were dealt a blow on Friday after being told to pay a whopping $13-billion bill, though boosting Asia's richest tycoon Mukesh Ambani who has shaken up the sector with his low-cost deals. After a two-decade legal wrangle, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that telecom firms had to pay a combined 920 billion rupees ($13.0 billion) in past spectrum and licensing fees.

British giant Vodafone's loss-making and indebted joint venture with local firm Idea was the biggest loser, being told to cough up $4 billion, Bloomberg News reported. Vodafone's Mumbai-listed shares slumped more than 16 percent when the markets opened, before recovering slightly. Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, another major operator which was told to pay $3 billion, expressed their "extreme disappointment" in the decision, saying it will exacerbate the sector's financial woes.