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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

New Delhi, Feb 13 () The Supreme Court will on Friday hear fresh pleas of telecom firms, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices, seeking a new schedule of payment of statutory dues to the tune of Rs 1.47 lakh crore to the Department of Telecommunications.A bench of justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and M R Shah will hear a batch of petitions filed by telecom companies in open court. The pleas filed by Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Tata Teleservices has sought more time for payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) related dues. The telecom companies want to negotiate a fresh payment schedule with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which has issued demand notices to them.Earlier on January 16, a bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra had dismissed review petitions of telecom firms seeking review of its earlier order asking them to pay Rs 1.47 lakh crore in statutory dues by January 23, saying it did not find any "justifiable reason" to entertain them.The apex court had on October 24 last year ruled that the statutory dues need to be calculated by including non-telecom revenues in AGR of telcos.It had upheld the AGR definition formulated by the DoT and termed as "frivolous" the nature of objections raised by the telecom service providers.In an affidavit filed in the top court, DoT said that according to calculations, Airtel owes Rs 21,682.13 crore as licence fee to the government and dues from Vodafone totalled Rs 19,823.71 crore, while Reliance Communications owed a total of Rs 16,456.47 crore. BSNL owed Rs 2,098.72 crore and MTNL Rs 2,537.48 crore."The definition of gross revenue is crystal clear in the agreement. How the adjusted gross revenue to be arrived at is also evident. It cannot be submitted that the revenue has not been defined in the contract. Once the gross revenue is defined, one cannot depart from it and the very meaning is to be given to the revenue for the agreement," the apex court had said in its October verdict.According to the New Telecom Policy 1999, telecom licensees are required to share a percentage of their AGR with the government as annual licence fee (LF).The 1999 policy came after operators made representation to Centre for relief against steep licence fee which they had consistently defaulted since 1994 and an option to licensees to migrate from fixed licence fee to revenue sharing fee was made applicable in the year 1999. In addition, mobile telephone operators were also required to pay spectrum usage charges (SUC) for use of radio frequency spectrum allotted to them.Telecos had moved the top court against the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal's (TDSAT) order which ruled that certain non-telecom revenues like rent, profit on sale of fixed assets, dividend and treasury income would not be counted as AGR on which licence fee would have to be paid to government.The TDSAT had exempted a large number of streams from the definition of AGR, like capital receipts, bad debt, distribution margins to dealers, forex fluctuations, sale of scrap and waiver of late fee. It had also said revenue from non-core sources such as rent, profit on sale of fixed assets, dividend, interest and miscellaneous income must be included while computing a carrier's AGR, dealing a setback to telecos who would have to shell out more towards licence and spectrum usage fees. MNL ABA ZMN

SC to hear telecom companies' plea on AGR-related dues on Friday

New Delhi, Mar 19 () The Department of Telecom's plea seeking 20 years time for operators to pay adjusted gross revenue dues was approved by the Cabinet, Union minister Sanjay Dhotre informed Parliament on Thursday. The Supreme Court will hear the government's rescue plan of giving telcos a 20-year repayment period for AGR dues during the next hearing scheduled after two weeks."Consequent to the approval by the Cabinet, an application has been moved before the Hon'ble Supreme Court on March 16, 2020, seeking, inter-alia, permission of the Hon'ble Court for the licensees impacted by the AGR judgement to pay the unpaid or remaining to be paid amount of past DoT assessed/calculated dues in annual instalments over 20 years duly protecting the net present value of the said dues using a discount rate of 8 per cent," the Minister of State for Communications told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. The Supreme Court on Wednesday had lashed out at Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other mobile phone operators for self-assessing their outstanding telecom dues, saying they need to pay past dues with interest and penalty -- an estimated amount of Rs 1.69 lakh crore. The apex court also came down heavily on the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for allowing companies to re-assess what they owed to the government, and said its order -- passed on October 24, 2019 -- on revenues for calculating dues was final. A bench of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice S A Nazeer and Justice M R Shah refused to take up the Centre's plea for allowing telecom companies to pay AGR dues in 20 years, saying the application will be taken up after two weeks. "The time frame of 20 years is unreasonable. The telecom companies have to clear all dues mentioned in the judgement," the bench said, adding it had settled all AGR dues after hearing telecom companies and the government then had fought tooth and nail for interests and penalties.Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Group's self-assessment of dues to the government are a whopping Rs 82,300 crore short of what the telecom department calculated after the Supreme Court's ruling on AGR. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), according to its own submission to the apex court seeking relief in payment tenure, has put dues of the three companies at Rs 1.19 lakh crore. The dues estimated by DoT for Bharti Airtel and Telenor was pegged at Rs 43,980 crore, while that of Vodafone Idea was Rs 58,254 crore, and Tata Group of companies at Rs 16,798 crore outlined under 'total demand of DoT incorporating CAG and special audit as on October 2019'. Against this, Bharti Group has calculated its dues at Rs 13,004 crore, Vodafone Idea at Rs 21,533 crore and Tata Group of companies at Rs 2,197 crore. In all, AGR dues calculated by the government for 16 entities add up to Rs 1.69 lakh crore, while telcos' self-assessment place their dues at a mere Rs 37,176 crore. These dues arose after the Supreme Court, in October last year, upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-core businesses in calculating the annual AGR of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fee to the exchequer. The bench said it will summon the secretary and desk officer of DoT who permitted telecom companies to do self-assessment of AGR dues. PRS MR

DoT plea to seek 20 year time for payment of AGR bears cabinet stamp

<keyword id="6354287" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharti-airtel">Bharti Airtel</keyword>, Vodafone Idea and <keyword id="6355725" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="tata-group">Tata Group</keyword>'s self-assessment of dues to the government are a whopping Rs 82,300 crore short of what the telecom department calculated after the Supreme Court's ruling on AGR. The apex court on Wednesday lashed out at the telcos for trying to reopen the dues they owed to the government through the self-assessment exercise. The <keyword id="116246" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Department-of-Telecommunications">Department of Telecommunications</keyword> (<keyword id="16054" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="DoT">DoT</keyword>), according to its own submission to the apex court seeking relief in payment tenure, has put dues of the three companies at Rs 1.19 lakh crore. The dues estimated by DoT for Bharti Airtel and <keyword id="173082" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Telnor">Telnor</keyword> was pegged at Rs 43,980 crore, while that of Vodafone Idea was Rs 58,254 crore, and Tata Group of companies at Rs 16,798 crore outlined under 'total demand of DoT incorporating CAG and special audit as on October 2019'. Against this, Bharti Group has calculated its dues at Rs 13,004 crore, Vodafone Idea at Rs 21,533 crore and Tata Group of companies at Rs 2,197 crore. In all, AGR dues calculated by the government for 16 entities add up to Rs 1.69 lakh crore, while telcos' self-assessment place their dues at a mere Rs 37,176 crore. These dues arose after the Supreme Court, in October last year, upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-core businesses in calculating the annual AGR of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fee to the exchequer. The Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre and telecom companies for doing self-assessment or reassessment of the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues fixed by the apex court in its verdict given on October 24 last year. A bench of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice S A Nazeer and Justice M R Shah refused to take up the Centre's plea for allowing telecom companies to pay AGR dues in 20 years, saying the application will be taken up after two weeks. "The time frame of 20 years is unreasonable. The telecom companies have to clear all dues mentioned in the judgement," the bench said, adding it had settled all AGR dues after hearing telecom companies and the government then had fought tooth and nail for interests and penalties. The bench said it will summon the secretary and desk officer of DoT who permitted telecom companies to do self-assessment of AGR dues. "Exercise of self-assessment of AGR dues by telecom companies cannot be permitted even in wildest dreams," it said. The court said serious fraud was being committed by telecom companies by asserting to do self-assessment of AGR dues and that its judgment was final and to be followed in letter and spirit. Beleaguered Vodafone Idea has pegged its total dues to the government following a Supreme Court order at Rs 21,533 crore. Earlier this week, Vodafone Idea paid another tranche of Rs 3,354 crore to the government, thereby taking its total payments to Rs 6,854 crore. The company said this was equivalent to full principal amount as per its self-assessment. Bharti Airtel has paid Rs 13,004 crore to the government in two installments. It had also deposited an additional Rs 5,000 crore "as an ad-hoc payment (subject to subsequent refund/adjustment) to cover differences, if any, arising from the reconciliation exercise with the DoT. Tata Teleservices has paid Rs 2,197 crore in AGR dues, and thereafter an additional Rs 2,000 crore to cover reconciliation differences.

An 82,300 crore rupees gap in telco's and DoT assesment of spectrum dues

New Delhi, Mar 13 () The Union Cabinet on Friday is believed to have discussed statutory dues payment by telecom companies and the Supreme Court is likely to be appraised at the next date of hearing. The Supreme Court had last month asked Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Ltd and other telcos to clear within a month dues that arose out of its October 2019 order that non-telecom revenues have to be included for calculating spectrum charges and license fee. The debt-laden, loss-making telcos however sought government intervention in relaxing terms of the payments, including staggered payments spread over multiple years. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) reportedly sought a legal opinion from the law officer which is believed to have figured at the meeting of the Cabinet on Friday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who briefed the media about the decisions taken by the Cabinet, directed queries on the issue to DoT. DoT officials were tight-lipped about the deliberations, saying the matter was before the Supreme Court. The Union Cabinet is understood to have discussed statutory dues payment by telecom companies at its meeting on Friday and it is widely-anticipated that Supreme Court will be appraised at the next date of hearing. The apex court is scheduled to hear the AGR matter on March 17. Bharti Airtel has, so far, paid Rs 13,004 crore to the government in two installments. It has also deposited an additional Rs 5,000 crore as an "ad-hoc payment (subject to subsequent refund/adjustment) to cover differences, if any, arising from the reconciliation exercise with the DoT". The total payout by Bharti Airtel, however, is half of the Rs 35,586.01 crore liability estimated by the DoT. Beleaguered Vodafone Idea has pegged its total dues to the government at Rs 21,533 crore -- less than half of what the Telecom Department has estimated. Vodafone Group CEO Nick Read recently indicated keenness to make a "new, good beginning" in India. Vodafone Idea has so far paid Rs 3,500 crore out of the "self-assessed" liability of Rs 21,533 crore. Minister of State for Communications Sanjay Dhotre, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha recently, had said the government has received part payment of about Rs 25,900 crore from various telecom operators towards statutory dues. The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liabilities arose after the Supreme Court in October last year upheld the government's position on including revenue from non-telecommunication businesses for calculating the annual AGR of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fees to the exchequer. In all, 16 entities had owed the government Rs 1.47 lakh crore in AGR liabilities -- Rs 92,642 crore in licence fee and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges. Of the estimated dues that include interest and penalty for late payments, Airtel and Vodafone Idea accounted for about 60 per cent. MBI ANZ ABM

Cabinet discusses AGR issue

(Eds: Incorporating related series)New Delhi, Mar 18 () The Supreme Court on Wednesday lashed out at Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other mobile phone operators for self-assessing their outstanding telecom dues, saying they need to pay past dues with interest and penalty -- an estimated amount of Rs 1.6 lakh crore. The apex court also came down heavily on the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for allowing companies to re-assess what they owed to the government, and said its order -- passed on October 24, 2019 -- on revenues for calculating dues was final. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Arun Mishra, said it would consider the government's rescue plan of giving telcos 20-year time to make the payments during the next hearing scheduled after two weeks. "Exercise of self-assessment of AGR dues by telecom companies cannot be permitted even in wildest dreams. Withdraw forthwith any such orders which been passed," it said, adding that "this is sheer fraud". The top court said, "if we are to be very harsh, then all the MDs (Managing Directors) will be called here and sent straight to jail for contempt. They want self-assessment and commit fraud upon the public exchequer. "Through newspaper articles do they want to show that they are very powerful. Article are being published that economy will go here and there. They are fooling people by fake news. Truth must come out". Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Group's self-assessed dues to the government are a whopping Rs 82,300 crore, which is short of what DoT calculated after the Supreme Court's October 24 ruling on the Aggregated Gross Revenues (AGR). In its submission before the apex court seeking relief in payment tenure, DoT had pegged Bharti Airtel's dues at Rs 43,980 crore, Vodafone Idea at Rs 58,254 crore and Tata Group at Rs 16,798 crore. Against these amounts, Bharti self-assessed its dues at Rs 13,004 crore and paid a total of Rs 18,000 crore, including Rs 5,000 crore towards reconciling any difference. Vodafone Idea assessed its dues at Rs 21,533 crore and paid Rs 6,854 crore. Tata Group of companies self-assessed their dues at Rs 2,197 crore. The remaining of the Rs 1.6 lakh crore dues pertain to firms that are in bankruptcy or have already closed down. In October last year, the Supreme Court upheld DoT's position on calculating dues after including non-telecom revenues in AGR, and had ordered payment of full amount of past 15 years within three months. When the companies dithered and filed pleas, the court threatened to initiate contempt proceedings for non-compliance. Earlier this week, the government filed a plea seeking 20-year payment scheme with a view to help the telecom sector that is already saddled with huge debt and losses arising from cut-throat competition. While Bharti Airtel has raised funds to meet the payment demand by way of rights issue of shares and bond sales, Vodafone Idea Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla in the past indicated that the company would fold up if it is forced to make the payments as per DoT calculations. Expressing anguish at newspaper articles interpreting its order, the top court said all MDs of telecom companies would be personally responsible and held for contempt of court for any such future write-ups hiding the truth. The bench, also comprising Justices S A Nazeer and M R Shah, refused to take up the centre's plea for allowing telecom companies to pay AGR dues in 20 years, saying the application would be taken up after two weeks. "The time frame of 20 years is unreasonable. The telecom companies have to clear all dues mentioned in the judgment," the bench said. The bench also said it had settled all AGR dues after hearing telecom companies and the government then had fought tooth and nail for interests and penalties. Further, the bench said it would summon the secretary and desk officer of the DoT who permitted telecom companies to do self-assessment of AGR dues. According to the court, serious fraud was being committed by telecom companies by asserting to do self-assessment of AGR dues and that its judgment was final and to be followed in the letter and spirit. "We will be party to fraud if we allow self-assessment of AGR dues by telecom companies," the bench said, adding that it cannot permit encroachment of its powers by allowing self-assessment. The court also said newspaper articles would not be able to influence its decision and it would draw contempt proceedings against the managing directors of telecom companies if they publish "fake news" against court on payment of AGR dues. "Any future newspaper article hiding truth from public on telecom case will make MDs of telcos personally responsible," the bench said. In its ruling last year, the apex court ruled that the statutory dues need to be calculated by including non-telecom revenues in AGR of telecom companies. It had upheld the AGR definition formulated by DoT and termed "frivolous" the nature of objections raised by the telecom service providers. The bench questioned DoT for allowing self-assessment of the AGR by companies, saying, "we are of the conclusive opinion that no such self-assessment or reassessment exercise shall be undertaken". "Who has permitted this self-assessment? From where this concept of self-assessment has come up?. Who is allowing all this?. This is a sheer contempt. We have already said that no objection will be entertained on the dues. "Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit has been done on the dues. It is there in our judgment then from where this concept has come out," the bench said while pulling up the Centre and the telecom firms," the court said. The court told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, that it was a "question of prestige", that telecom companies are hoodwinking and they have earned money all these years on the resources since 2001 and now they have to pay the dues as settled by the apex court. "This is public money. The government has given them resources from which they earned money. "Your (Centre) department has given them leverage and your officers have written to them for self-assessment of AGR. We will haul those officers for contempt. Everything was before us and we heard them for months and settled for the figure of dues. The government then had fought tooth and nail for interest and penalties," the bench said. Mehta tried to intervene and said the Cabinet has taken a decision and according to the proposal, the interest of AGR would be frozen and that amount would be paid gradually. "If that is the case, then will test everything and will analyse how much these companies have earned over the years, how much was the dues and how much they have paid. Do you want that? Someone is trying to subterfuge our judgment. If this self-assessment is permitted, then it will be a more serious fraud on the public," the top court said. Senior advocates Mukul Rohtagi and A M Singhvi, appearing for Vodafone and Bharti Airtel, respectively, said that no one is saying that they would not comply with the verdict but there are some errors which needs to be corrected. To this, the bench said that errors cannot be of thousands of crore and clarified that the October 24, 2019 verdict was based on the 2011 decision of apex court, which had settled most of the propositions on AGR dues and only limited aspect was dealt by the recent judgment. MNL SJ ANZ HRS RAM

SC lashes out at telcos, DoT for self-assessing dues

New Delhi, Jun 11 () Shares of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel fell on Thursday, with the former tumbling 13 per cent, on a day when the Supreme Court asked private telecom operators to furnish undertakings and file affidavits giving a road map for clearing the adjusted gross revenue (AGR)-related dues. The Supreme Court asked private telecom operators to furnish undertakings and file affidavits giving a road map for clearing the AGR-related dues, as Vodafone Idea said it does not have enough money to even pay salaries to its employees. Vodafone Idea Ltd's shares tumbled 13.22 per cent to close at Rs 9.39 on the BSE. During the day, it dropped 14.97 per cent to Rs 9.20. Bharti Airtel also fell 2.76 per cent to close at Rs 551.60. During the day, it declined 3.61 per cent to Rs 546.75. Bharti Airtel told the top court that it has paid 70 per cent dues as per its own calculations and the rest would be cleared after consulting the government. "On the domestic front, telecom's AGR case in the Supreme Court remained the highlight of the day. The next hearing will be held on June 18. Till then, the apex court has directed the telcos to file a reply on the road map of payment and time needed to pay the remaining dues," said Siddhartha Khemka, head (retail research) of Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd. SUM HRS

Vodafone Idea tumbles 13 pc, Bharti Airtel falls nearly 3 pc

New Delhi, Feb 16 () Telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices are likely to make payment for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues on Monday to avoid stringent punitive action from the Telecom Department, according to official sources. The three companies are jointly liable to pay dues of over Rs 1 lakh crore, but they have informed the Department of Telecom (DoT) of making only partial payment, as per their representatives. "Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices have said that they will make payments on Monday. DoT will take action after evaluating the amount paid by them," an official source told . Earlier on Friday, Bharti Airtel offered the DoT to pay Rs 10,000 crore by February 20, but a DoT official said that the department can't grant any extension. Vodafone Idea on Saturday said that it is assessing the amount that can be paid towards AGR dues, even as it flagged concerns over the continuation of its business. Telecom operators are collectively liable to pay Rs 1.47 lakh crore in AGR dues as per the Supreme Court order dated October 24, 2019. The deadline to pay the amount ended on January 23, but none of the telecom operators, except Reliance Jio, paid the amount. Even state-owned BSNL and MTNL did not pay the dues. As per the last available estimates, Airtel owes nearly Rs 35,586 crore, including licence fee and spectrum usage charges, to the government. Vodafone Idea is staring at dues worth Rs 53,000 crore, which includes up to Rs 24,729 crore of spectrum dues and another Rs 28,309 crore in licence fee. Tata Teleservices owes around Rs 13,800 crore, BSNL Rs 4,989 crore and MTNL Rs 3,122 crore. Out of Rs 1.47 lakh crore, around Rs 1.13 lakh crore is likely to be recovered, as other companies, which are liable to pay AGR dues, have folded up their businesses. Reliance Communications and Aircel are going through insolvency proceedings. The apex court on Friday came down heavily on the Telecom Department for not taking steps to recover statutory dues, estimated to be around Rs 1.47 lakh crore from operators. The DoT issued fifth and final notice to telecom operators on February 14 for making payment on the same day, but none of the companies paid the dues. When asked about telecom operators having sought time to assess the amount they have to pay, the DoT official said that the court gave them three months to do so and even after missing January 23 deadline telecom operators had sufficient time to calculate their dues. "Before the due date, DoT has sent telecom operators 4 notices and reminders to pay to avoid punitive action under license condition. After court order on modification plea, telecom players are not left with any excuse to delay the payment and the DoT can take action against them without serving any further notice," the source said. The apex court pulled up telecom operators and the government on non-payment of AGR dues despite its order. It has asked managing directors and directors of the company to be present in person before court on the next hearing, scheduled for March 17, in case there is violation of its order in the AGR case. Public sector companies, that do not sell telecom services, owe DoT around Rs 2.65 lakh crore, with GAIL India alone owing around 65 per cent of the total amount. However, these PSUs have the option to approach court for a legal recourse. PRS RVK

Airtel, Voda Idea, Tata Tele likely to pay AGR dues on Monday: DoT sources

New Delhi, Feb 16 () Telecom operators <keyword id="6354287" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="bharti-airtel">Bharti Airtel</keyword>, Vodafone Idea and <keyword id="6359475" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="tata-teleservices">Tata Teleservices</keyword> are likely to make payment for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues on Monday to avoid stringent punitive action from the Telecom Department, according to an official source. The three companies are jointly liable to pay dues of over Rs 1 lakh crore, but they have informed the Department of Telecom (<keyword id="16054" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="DoT">DoT</keyword>) of making only partial payment, as per their representatives. "Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices have said that they will make payments on Monday. DoT will take action after evaluating the amount paid by them," an official source told . Earlier on Friday, Bharti Airtel offered the DoT to pay Rs 10,000 crore by February 20, but a DoT official said that the department can't grant any extension. Vodafone Idea on Saturday said that it is assessing the amount that can be paid towards AGR dues, even as it flagged concerns over the continuation of its business. Telecom operators are collectively liable to pay Rs 1.47 lakh crore in AGR dues as per the Supreme Court order dated October 24, 2019. The deadline to pay the amount ended on January 23, but none of the telecom operators, except Reliance Jio, paid the amount. Even state-owned BSNL and MTNL did not pay the dues. As per the last available estimates, Airtel owes nearly Rs 35,586 crore, including licence fee and spectrum usage charges, to the government. Vodafone Idea is staring at dues worth Rs 53,000 crore, which includes up to Rs 24,729 crore of spectrum dues and another Rs 28,309 crore in licence fee. Tata Teleservices owes around Rs 13,800 crore, BSNL Rs 4,989 crore and MTNL Rs 3,122 crore. Out of Rs 1.47 lakh crore, around Rs 1.13 lakh crore is likely to be recovered, as other companies, which are liable to pay AGR dues, have folded up their businesses. <keyword id="46907" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-communications">Reliance Communications</keyword> and Aircel are going through insolvency proceedings. The apex court on Friday came down heavily on the Telecom Department for not taking steps to recover statutory dues, estimated to be around Rs 1.47 lakh crore from operators. The DoT issued fifth and final notice to telecom operators on February 14 for making payment on the same day, but none of the companies paid the dues. When asked about telecom operators having sought time to assess the amount they have to pay, the DoT official said that the court gave them three months to do so and even after missing January 23 deadline telecom operators had sufficient time to calculate their dues. "Before the due date, DoT has sent telecom operators 4 notices and reminders to pay to avoid punitive action under license condition. After court order on modification plea, telecom players are not left with any excuse to delay the payment and the DoT can take action against them without serving any further notice," the source said. The apex court pulled up telecom operators and the government on non-payment of AGR dues despite its order. It has asked managing directors and directors of the company to be present in person before court on the next hearing, scheduled for March 17, in case there is violation of its order in the AGR case. Public sector companies, that do not sell telecom services, owe DoT around Rs 2.65 lakh crore, with GAIL India alone owing around 65 per cent of the total amount. However, these PSUs have the option to approach court for a legal recourse.

Airtel, Vodafone and Tatas are expected to cough up spectrum dues on Monday

New Delhi, Feb 15 () Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Saturday said it is assessing the amount that can be paid towards AGR dues, even as it flagged concerns over the continuation of its business.The company said it is in the process to pay adjusted gross revenue dues as per the Supreme Court order.However, the continuation of business in India will depend on favourable order on its modification plea filed before the apex court, it added."The Company is currently assessing the amount that it will be able to pay to DoT towards the dues calculated based on AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue), as interpreted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in its order dated 24 October 2019. The Company proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days," Vodafone Idea said in a BSE filing.Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL), whose liability is estimated to be around Rs 53,038 crore, including Rs 24,729 crore of spectrum dues and Rs 28,309 crore in licence fee, has already warned of shutdown if no relief is given."As disclosed in the Company's financial statements for quarter ending December 31, 2019, the Company's ability to continue as a going concern is essentially dependent on a positive outcome of the application for modification of the Supplementary Order," the company said in the filing.The next date of hearing is scheduled for March 17, 2020. PRS PRS BALBAL

Vodafone Idea says it will pay AGR dues, continuation of biz depends on SC order

New Delhi, Feb 17 () Shares of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel closed marginally lower on Monday even as investors kept their fingers crossed amid uncertainty over statutory dues. State-owned MTNL was 8.14 per cent down over the previous close of Rs 9.35 on the BSE. Vodafone Idea's shares closed 0.58 per cent down to Rs 3.42 per unit. Intra-day, the stock gained as much as 18.89 per cent to hit upper circuit at Rs 3.78. The stock lost all its early gains after the Supreme Court rejected Vodafone Idea's proposal to pay Rs 2,500 crore by the end of Monday, and Rs 1,000 crore by Friday against adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. However, after market hours, Vodafone Idea and Tata group have made part payments of about Rs 2,500 crore and over Rs 2,190 crore, respectively, to the telecom department towards statutory dues, a government official said. Bharti Airtel's stock settled 0.02 lower at Rs 565. Reliance Industries, parent of Reliance Jio Infocomm, settled marginally down by 0.55 per cent to Rs 1,478.40 on the BSE. However, Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd gained 9.45 per cent to close the day at Rs 3.59. It hit upper price band at Rs 3.60, up 9.75 per cent, during the day. Analysts said the SC ruling came as a negative for the telecom companies. "The telecom sector has probably seen its low and the tariff structure has been revised upwards by about 40 per cent which was a major positive. However, the payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of telecom companies and no leeway provided in terms of payment is a major negative," Paras Bothra, president of equity research, Ashika Stock Broking, said. The Supreme Court on February 14 dismissed telecom companies' modification petition with respect to the AGR liabilities while asking them to pay before the next hearing on March 17. Bothra also said this will essentially force a duopoly kind of industry without the government intervention and is against consumer interests. Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices are jointly liable to pay dues of over Rs 1 lakh crore but they have informed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) of making only partial payment, according to their representatives. Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has paid Rs 10,000 crore to the DoT towards statutory dues. "The...amount of Rs 10,000 crore has been paid on behalf of Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom, and Telenor," the Sunil Mittal-led company said in a letter to the DoT earlier on Monday. State-owned BSNL and MTNL have also not paid the dues. Reliance Jio on January 23 paid Rs 195 crore to the DoT to clear all AGR dues accounted till January 31, 2020. HRS

Telecom stocks end in red amid uncertainty over statutory dues

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>

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