Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Tata File Review Petitions Over SC’s AGR Order for Waiver

New Delhi, November 23, 2019:

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd, and Tata Teleservices on Friday filed review petitions on the Supreme Court’s verdict which had favored the government on recovering the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of about Rs. 92,000 crore from telecom service providers.

Telecom majors decided to file the review petition of the October 24 order after the Cabinet cleared a two-year moratorium on spectrum payments.

ALSO READ: Assam: Farmers' Body Stages Massive Protest against Citizenship Bill in front of Governor's Residence

However, the court did not provide any relief on the AGR front. The government had announced in the Parliament that there will be no consideration for a waiver on any component of its AGR order.

It is to be mentioned here that the Tata Teleservices had sold its consumer mobility business to Bharti Airtel but still owes the government about Rs 12,907 crore on account of licence fees and spectrum usage charges (SUC).

The sell is yet to be approved by the Department of Telecom (DoT) pending the OSTC or one-time spectrum charges of Rs 8,000 crore. The DoT has also filed a case in the Supreme Court holding up the merger over the debt to be paid by Tata.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom companies owe nearly Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past statutory dues to the government.

Reportedly, Vodafone Idea filed the highest-ever quarterly loss in the corporate history - Rs 50,992 crore in the second quarter of 2019-20. While Airtel’s net loss was at Rs 23,045 crore in the same quarter.

ALSO READ: Centre Must not be Allowed to Conduct another NRC Exercise in Assam: Congress to Supreme Court

The deadline set by the SC for payment of licence fee and spectrum charges dues on account of AGR definition is January 24.

Meanwhile, DoT has already issued demand notices to telecom companies asking them to do self-assessment, and submit the dues by around January 22, as directed by the Supreme Court.

Support Inside Northeast (InsideNE), an independent media platform that focuses on Citizen-centric stories from Northeast India that are surprising, inspiring, cinematic and emotionally relevant.