The department of telecommunications has raised similar demands for nearly all the deals underway in India's wireless sector. The ministry sought 72.5 billion rupees of dues before signing off on the merger of Vodafone Group's local unit with Idea Cellular Ltd, which will create India's No 1 wireless carrier by users, overtaking Bharti Airtel. The carriers paid the sum under protest last month. Reliance Communications Ltd - in the midst of closing the sale of its airwaves, towers and fiber to Reliance Jio - was asked to furnish 7.74 billion rupees in bank guarantees for upcoming dues or see its licences cancelled. For Tata, this will be the second big payout on a mobile-phone business that's long been in decline. The group agreed to settle a dispute over a US$1.2 billion arbitration award in favor of NTT Docomo Inc in early 2017 after their Indian mobile-phone partnership soured. BLOOMBERG