AGR dues | Vodafone Idea, after Airtel, moves Supreme Court regarding error in calculation: Report

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of orders over the Rs 58,400 crore adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues claimed from it by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

The telco, which has the highest bill to pay among peers, has cited “arithmetical errors in the government’s calculations” as reason for seeking the modification, as per The Economic Times.

"Vi is seeking a modification, pointing out that the arithmetical errors in DoT’s AGR calculations need to be looked into," one source told the paper.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Of the Rs 58,400 crore bill, Vi has paid Rs 7,854 crore and has balance payment of Rs 50,400 crore due. However, its own internal estimate pegs the payable dues at Rs 21,533 crore. Notably, the SC has barred companies from self-assessing dues and accepted the DoT’s claimed amounts.

Another source told the paper that Tata Teleservices may also approach the SC regarding its Rs 16,789 crore AGR dues. But Tata Teleservices did not respond to queries, it added.

Vi’s move comes after Bharti Airtel moved the SC on January 7 seeking lowering of dues payable as per aggregated gross revenue (AGR) fees, citing “miscomputation of dues.”

Airtel has dues worth Rs 43,989 crore, as per DoT and has already paid Rs 18,004 crore. The balance payment is pegged at Rs 25,985 crore.

Airtel is likely to cite that the DoT miscomputed the total dues payable. It is also expected to argue that the Rs 43,989 crore demand includes license fee dues and spectrum usage charges – but the issue before the SC was limited to license fee and not spectrum charge, hence its inclusion in the total is erroneous.

The Supreme Court on September 1, 2020 gave telecom companies 10 years to repay their AGR dues, putting an end to a case that was being watched closely for its implications for the telecommunications sector.

While giving the 10-year timeframe, from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2031, a bench of Justices Arun Mishra, S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah directed telcos to pay 10 percent of the AGR dues upfront.

A default would invite interest, penalty, along with contempt of court. The court also said no revaluation of AGR dues would be allowed.

The court had in October 2019 upheld the expanded definition of AGR as given by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which demanded more than over Rs 1 lakh crore from service providers.