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The Supreme Court on Monday, during the hearing on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) matter of telecom companies, questioned the Centre as to how is it possible to sell the spectrum and whether it is transferable. A bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), to come prepared on the next hearing, and explain how can spectrum be sold or whether is transferable. The bench also asked Mehta to get the NCLT orders connected with the query, as it scheduled the next hearing on the matter on August 14. Mehta contended before the bench that the government has filed an appeal saying spectrum is a national property and it should not be part of bankruptcy assets. At this, the bench questioned: "Why there was a delay in filing the appeal? What if the spectrum is sold in the meanwhile?" Mehta contended before the bench that the Centre has told the National Company Law Tribunal that spectrum is a national property, cannot be an asset of the company, and it cannot be sold. The bench also questioned how Aircel's spectrum and license were sold and who gave the permission for it. Aircel's monitoring committee's lawyer contended before the bench that no dues to government are be paid under the bankruptcy resolution plan, and insisted that he will place the details in court. The lawyer contended that the company paid the money to buy spectrum, and it is a transferable asset. The Centre, however, said Aircel's dues were Rs 12,000 crore. As the bench questioned the DoT as to how it proposes to recover the <keyword id="8275485" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="agr-dues">AGR dues</keyword> from a company which has gone into insolvency, Mehta replied that DoT's stand is that spectrum cannot be part of bankruptcy assets.

Supreme Court adjourns AGR case hearing to August 14

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Department of Telecommunication (DoT) not to invoke bank guarantee given by Bharti <keyword id="15491" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="airtel" source="Orion">Airtel</keyword> for a period of three weeks for not clearing Videocon Telecommunications Ltd's adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of over Rs 1,300 crore. A bench headed by Justices L. Nageswara Rao and comprising Justices S. Abdul Nazeer and M. R. Shah declined to entertain Airtel's plea challenging the DoT demand, but it allowed the telecom firm to approach the appropriate forum against the government decision. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing Bharti Airtel, argued that his client received a communication on August 17, saying the firm must make payment and if it fails to do so, then there is a possibility of invoking various bank guarantees. He contended that Rs 18,000 crore dues have already been paid by the telecom company, according to the top court's order and there is another figure, which is attributed to Videocon Telecommunications. He added that there is a particular spectrum traded by Videocon to Airtel and citing the spectrum trading guidelines, he added the seller shall clear all dues prior to concluding any agreement for spectrum trading. "The liability is of Videocon... full liability of the seller," submitted Divan. Divan argued that by adding the dues of Videocon to the demand made from Airtel, the DoT has violated the apex court's order that AGR dues cannot be recalculated or reassessed. The top court said it will not interfere with its order, rather it will grant liberty to Airtel to move any other alternate forum to redress its grievances. Divan said that the alternate forum will be the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT). Earlier this year, in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court on the status of statutory dues paid by telecom operators, the DoT said it is planning to slap Videocon Telecommunications Ltd's AGR dues over Rs 1,300 crore on Bharti Airtel. Videocon Telecommunications had sold spectrum of 30 MHz to Bharti Airtel in 2016. Concluding the hearing, the top court allowed Airtel to withdraw the application and also restrained the DoT from invoking its bank guarantees for 3 weeks. According to the Centre's calculations, the total AGR liability of Bharti Airtel is Rs 43,980 crore, Vodafone Idea's is Rs 58,254 crore, Tata group's is Rs 16,798 crore, BSNL owes Rs 5,835.85 crore, and MTNL Rs 4,352.09 crore. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-added-5-million-new-4g-users-tariff-hike-hopes-and-record-broadband-customer-addition-surge-share-price/articleshow/85039298.cms">Five million new 4G users, tariff hike hopes and record broadband customer addition send Airtel's stock to a 6-month high</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/the-enormous-gap-between-vodafone-idea-on-one-hand-airtel-and-jio-on-the-other/articleshow/85035781.cms">The enormous gap between Vodafone Idea on one hand, Airtel and Jio on the other</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/vodafone-idea-loses-over-4-million-subscribers-airtel-and-jio-add-over-9-million-in-june/articleshow/85589113.cms">Vodafone Idea loses over 4 million subscribers, Airtel and Jio add over 9 million in June</a>

AGR case: Supreme Court directs DoT not to enchash Airtel's bank guarantees for three weeks

The Supreme Court on Monday reserved its judgment on the issue of recovery of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues from insolvent telecom companies. A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra is likely to pronounce the judgment on three counts: Staggered payment schedule, where the Centre said it is fine with 20-year arrangement to recover AGR dues; Can spectrum be transferred or sold by companies under IBC; and, additional liabilities, if any, on Jio, Airtel for the past dues of RCom, Videocon, and Aircel. Airtel had spectrum sharing and trading pacts with Videocon and Aircel, whereas Jio had it with RCom. The court had asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to share the details of 'demand under process' for raising the liabilities against Airtel and Jio in the backdrop of spectrum-sharing. The bench also comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah observed that if DoT does not provide the correct position on the AGR demands, then the due figures quoted in the ruling could go wrong. "It has been nearly 10 months to the AGR ruling -- why has the DoT not yet raised the demand?" The DoT informed the bench that no demand has been raised against Jio and Airtel for part dues of RCom and Videocon, and that the assessment of Jio and Airtel liability for the past dues is "under process". Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Committee of Creditors for RCom, contended before the bench that the right to use spectrum is an "asset which can be sold", if the company wants to. Salve added that the resolution plan proposes the sale of the right to use spectrum is in line with the licence trading guidelines. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Airtel, contended that if the liability of the past dues of Videocon were to be imposed on Airtel, why wait for so long. Instead, the DoT should have clarified it long back, he argued. The court observed that according to trading guidelines, the seller of the spectrum shall satisfy all pending dues, before the sale. The bench said that it understood that upon the non-payment of dues by the seller, the trading guidelines would transfer the burden on the buyer. The DoT counsel contended that under trading guidelines, the past dues have to be cleared prior to the spectrum-trading, and under these guidelines, the DoT could recover the dues from seller and buyers. The bench questioned why no demand was raised against Airtel for the past dues of the Videocon spectrum. Sibal said Airtel had been paying all pending dues since the acquisition of the Videocon spectrum in May 2016. The apex court remarked that what is being proposed seems like renting out a house to a tenant and the latter selling the house under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Supreme Court reserves order on recovery of AGR dues from insolvent telecom companies

A day after Bharti Airtel approached the <keyword id="6354977" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> over the assessment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) calculations, <keyword id="1553175" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vodafone-Idea">Vodafone Idea</keyword> also moved the top court seeking "correction" in the AGR assessment. The petition filed by the telco on Thursday said that payments made by the company have not been accounted for in the AGR demands issued by the department. Further, it also said that double counting has been done on some revenue items in the AGR demands. It also said that deduction has not been given for PSTN related call charges and for roaming charges actually paid to other operators. "The excess demand upon the applicant which is attributable to these error amounts to Rs 5,932 crores of principal amount, which would have an overall impact of over four times on the total principal amount aforementioned due to the imposition of interest, penalty and interest on penalty," the petition said. In September, the <keyword id="6356229" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="apex-court">apex court</keyword> allowed telecom operators 10 years to pay up <keyword id="8275485" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="agr-dues">AGR dues</keyword>. Vodafone Idea's total AGR dues as per DoT stood at Rs 58,254 crore, while the dues according to the company stood at Rs 21,533 crore. The company has paid AGR dues worth of Rs 7,854 crore so far. Shares of the telco moved higher on the development. Around 1.08 p.m. Vodafone Idea shares on the BSE were trading at Rs 12.17, higher by 1.67 per cent from its previous close. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-approaches-supreme-court-claiming-error-in-assessment-of-agr-dues-by-dot/articleshow/80135781.cms">Airtel approaches Supreme Court claiming error in assessment of AGR dues by DoT</a>

Vodafone Idea approaches Supreme Court over AGR dues

After Supreme Court rap, the telecom department began issuing orders, directing companies such as <keyword id="6354287" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharti-airtel">Bharti Airtel</keyword> and <keyword id="1553175" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vodafone-Idea">Vodafone Idea</keyword> to clear dues before Friday midnight. The DoT, which faced the ire of the Supreme Court for putting on hold recovery of dues from telecom companies, started issuing circle or zone-wise demand notices to firms, an order seen by said. The order issued on Friday by the UP (West) Telecom Circle asked "all telecom service providers" to clear dues by 11.59 pm Friday. "With reference to subject cited above, you are hereby directed to make the payment of outstanding dues of licence fee and spectrum usage charges by 14.02.2020, 11:59 PM positively," it said. One of the telecom operators, who did not wish to be named, confirmed the receipt of the said order from the circle. While in all, 15 entities owe the government Rs 1.47 lakh crore -- Rs 92,642 crore in unpaid licence fee and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges, it is not immediately clear just how much of that has been sought by the government by midnight tonight. The order issued the circle-based Controller of Communication Accounts came after the telecom department earlier on Friday withdrew its order that asked for no coercive action against telecom companies defaulting on statutory dues payment. The circular was withdrawn by the telecom department immediately after the Supreme Court took a strong view of non-compliance in payment of dues by telecom companies. The DoT order issued to its field offices subsequently had asked for "immediate necessary action" in compliance with the October judgment of the Supreme Court. The direction by the DoT had said its previous order dated January 23, 2020 "stands withdrawn with immediate effect". "It is directed to take immediate necessary action in compliance with the judgement dated October 24, 2019 of the Supreme Court," said the fresh order issued by the DoT. The Supreme Court on Friday directed the managing directors and directors of telcos and other firms to explain why contempt action be not taken against them for non-compliance of its order to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of Rs 1.47 lakh crore to the <keyword id="116246" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Department-of-Telecommunications">Department of Telecommunications</keyword>. Taking strong note of the non-compliance of its order, a bench of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice M R Shah expressed anguish over the order passed by DoT's desk officer, staying the effect of its verdict in AGR matter. Of the three private players operating in the Indian telecom market, Vodafone Idea is considered to be in the most vulnerable position. Vodafone Idea is staring at dues worth Rs 53,000 crore that includes up to Rs 24,729 crore of spectrum dues and another Rs 28,309 crore in licence fee, and the company had earlier warned of shutdown if no relief was given. Vodafone Idea in its earnings statement on Thursday had also sounded out warnings on "material uncertainty" casting "significant doubt" on its ability to continue as a going concern. VIL had said on Thursday that the company's ability to continue as a going concern is essentially dependent on a positive outcome of its modification application in the Supreme Court on the AGR matter and any relief from the telecom department on payments. Last week, Vodafone Chief Executive Officer <keyword id="358433" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nick-Read">Nick Read</keyword> had said the situation in India is critical, following the AGR ruling of the Supreme Court. The British telecom major holds 45.39 per cent stake in VIL. VIL had suffered staggering Rs 50,922 crore loss in the September quarter (highest ever loss posted by any Indian corporate), when it had made provisions for statutory dues following the Supreme Court's order in the adjusted gross revenue matter, although its losses in December quarter narrowed to Rs 6,439 crore. Rival Bharti Airtel's liabilities added up to nearly Rs 35,586 crore, including licence fee and spectrum usage charge dues. But, Airtel had already said that the previously-mentioned material uncertainty on the group's ability to continue as a going concern "no longer exists" after the recent Rs 21,502 crore fund raising by it. Most of the remaining liability is with state-owned BSNL/MTNL and some of the shut/bankrupt telecom companies.

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea only have till midnight today to clear their AGR dues

<ul><li>Jio shot off a letter to COAI breaking the myth of doom and gloom in the sector.</li><li>Jio blamed Airtel and Vodafone-Idea of not sufficiently investing in network expansion.</li><li>It accused COAI of being a mouthpiece of the two operators and not an industry body.</li></ul><keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword>’s telecom battle just escalated from tariff war a war of words. After the Supreme Court verdict which would lead to top players Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea shelling out as much as ₹92,000 crore – an industry association COAI came to their support. The Cellular Operators Association of India warned that the telecom sector would turn into a monopoly. And Jio is not impressed. It shot off a letter to COAI breaking the myth of doom and gloom in the sector. It said not that not only can they pay up the dues, but also blamed them from not sufficiently investing to keep up with the sector. “These operators anyways were not investing sufficiently in the sector and have been shedding crocodile tears by claiming financial stress for a long time now and have not shown any inclination to modernize the networks,” said Jio in a letter to the COAI, making it clear to the telecom department that it does not agree with COAI views on the industry. 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Jio also foresaw that in an event when the players fail to pay up the aggregate gross revenue (AGR) dues as per the new calculation – which includes non-telecom revenue – will not result in a monopoly. That’s because Jio is expecting two state-owned players—BSNL and MTNL which are unable to pay salaries to their employees—too keep the competition high in the sector. The fact that the industry body sought a bailout package from the government over these dues, irked Jio immensely. “The financial difficulties of these operators are an effect of their own commercial decisions (tariff cuts) and government should not be obliged to bail them out for their own commercial failure and financial mismanagement,” Jio said. As Vodafone and Airtel continue to saddle debt after Jio launched in 2016, Jio last week announced that it will turn debt free as it has been spun off into a different entity from Reliance Industries which includes energy, retail, media and other businesses. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/news/reliance-jio-airtel-and-vodafone-idea-may-raise-tariff-soon/articleshow/71757089.cms">Whether you use Jio, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea, get ready to pay more for mobile services— sooner than later</a>

You Searched For "agr dues" and got 6 results

Supreme Court adjourns AGR case hearing to August 14

IANS

AGR case: Supreme Court directs DoT not to enchash Airtel's bank guarantees for three weeks

IANS

Supreme Court reserves order on recovery of AGR dues from insolvent telecom companies

IANS

Vodafone Idea approaches Supreme Court over AGR dues

IANS

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone-Idea only have till midnight today to clear their AGR dues

PTI

Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea are down to smack talk as the great Indian telecom race enters knockout round

Katya Naidu

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