The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) has written a letter to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal, stating its opposition to the telecom department's plan to impose a one-time tax on operators for spectrum they hold.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has proposed that the government should charge for spectrum held by existing operators at the rates that new telecom operators will pay on airwaves that they will acquire in the auction scheduled for November this year.

But, the telecom industry body opposed the proposed move, saying it was discriminatory, and also violated licence conditions.

The AUSPI said the proposal would trigger extensive international default of billions of dollars.

Expressing its opposition to the proposal, the AUSPI wrote in the letter, "It will trigger an event of default and all lenders will immediately exercise their rights... and call for immediate payment of all outstanding loans."

If the controversial proposal is approved, it will set existing operators financially far back. The existing telecom companies were allocated spectrum licences to operate across the country at Rs 1,658 crore only, while new telecom operators will have to pay minimum of Rs 14,000 crore to get pan-India licences.