Supreme Court To Hear AGR Dues Case On July 19; Telcos Might Get Some Relief

The Supreme Court is likely to hear telecom operators plea on July 19th, 2021 on the adjusted gross revenue dues. The petition has been filed by India's leading telecom operators Airtel and Vodafone-Idea, including Tata Teleservices. Notably, the decision of the Supreme Court will be crucial for Vodafone-Idea, which is already struggling to clear adjusted gross revenue dues.

Vodafone-Idea And Airtel Appeal On AGR: Check Details

Earlier, this year, Vodafone-Idea asked Supreme Court to modify the Department of Telecommunication calculation errors. For the unaware, India's third-largest telecom operator Vi has to clear Rs. 58,400 crores as AGR dues.

"The company has sought certain clarifications and has pointed out to certain errors in the way DoT has calculated the arrears. By VIL's calculation, the dues should be much lower than DoT's calculation due to accounting errors such as revenue calculated twice and certain payments were not accounted for," sources close to the development said.

The telecom operator has already cleared Rs. 7,854 crores. However, as per Vi's calculation, it has to pay only Rs. 21, 533 crores. The apex court has already rejected this plea. Similarly, Airtel wants some modification and clarification on Rs. 43,980 crores AGR dues aginst the DoT calculation of Rs. 13,004 crores. Both telcos said that there are some errors in the DoT calculation.

Tata Teleservices AGR Dues

Tata Teleservices also informed Supreme Court about the calculation error and DoT demand is higher than its revenue. According to DoT, Tata Teleservices has to pay Rs. 16,798 crores dues to the ministry. In addition, the company wants clarification on the timings of installments of AGR dues.

The three-judge in the Supreme Court had said that the telecom operators have to pay 10 percent of the dues by March 31st, 2021. and the remaining amount will be cleared in equal installments.

However, Vodafone-Idea, Airtel, and Tata Teleservices said that they have paid 10 percent of the amount already and now, they don't want to pay extra by March 31st, 2021. As we all know that India's third-largest telecom operator Vodafone-Idea is facing a financial crisis and looking for ways to reduce its debt.