After the court hearing on February 14, the Department of Telecom (DoT) asked all telecom companies to repay AGR dues by the end of the day in order to comply with the October verdict of the Supreme Court
The government could look at encashment of bank guarantees of telecom companies for not paying up the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues in compliance with the Supreme Court's order on February 14.
After the court hearing on February 14, the Department of Telecom (DoT) asked all telecom companies to repay AGR dues by the end of the day in order to comply with the October verdict of the Supreme Court.
“You are hereby directed to make the payment of outstanding dues of licence fee and spectrum usage charges by 11.59 pm on 14 February positively," the DoT letter said.
In response, Bharti Airtel said it will deposit Rs 10,000 crore as part payment for AGR dues to the DoT by February 20 and the balance before March 17 as it needs time to complete the exercise of calculating dues across 22 circles.
Vodafone Idea is in the process of assessing the dues it will be able to pay to the government and will pay this in the next few days, the company said in an exchange filing on February 15.
“We wish to inform that post the hearing yesterday, the company has received letters from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) directing immediate payment," Vodafone Idea said on February 15.
The company is currently assessing the amount that it will be able to pay to DoT and it proposes to pay the amount so assessed in the next few days, Vodafone Idea said.
The dues of Vodafone Idea are reportedly estimated to be over Rs 53,000 crore. This includes Rs 24,729 crore for spectrum usage charge and Rs 28,309 crore in licence fee.
The Supreme Court had mandated telecom companies to pay their estimated AGR dues of over Rs 1 lakh crore to the government by January 23. On February 14, the apex court pulled up the companies for non-compliance with its orders.
While in all, 15 entities owe the government Rs 1.47 lakh crore—about Rs 92,000 crore in unpaid licence fee and another Rs 55,000 crore in unpaid spectrum usage charges—it was not immediately clear how much of that the DoT has sought immediate payment of.
“This case projects a very disturbing scenario. The companies have violated the order passed by this court in pith and substance. In spite of the dismissal of the review application, they have not deposited any amount so far. It appears the way in which things are happening that they have scant respect to the directions issued by this court,” the Supreme Court order said.
“In the circumstances, we draw contempt proceedings against the desk officer for passing the order and violating the order passed by this court. The managing directors/directors of the companies also to show cause why we should not initiate contempt proceedings against them for violating the order passed by this court by not depositing the amount, on the next date of hearing…," the order said.
The telecom companies had been fighting a 14-year-long legal battle, insisting that AGR should include revenue from telecom services. The government's view has been that AGR should include all revenue earned by an operator, including that from non-core telecom operations.
In January, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices had filed modification pleas wanting more time to pay AGR dues. The DoT had on January 23 asked its officers not to take coercive action against telcos for non-payment of dues.
"Telecom is the basic foundation for the physical and digital economy. And if that's compromised then our dreams of USD 5 trillion economy and all that will merely become a pipe dream. There are strategic linkages and unfortunately this is not being given due importance," said Hemant Joshi, Deloitte India, TMT Leader.
In a separate letter after the apex court's verdict, DoT asked telecom companies to pay up the AGR dues by the end of the day in order to comply with the verdict.
"It (the verdict) risks there being a defacto duopoly in the market. That's not something that consumers can expect to benefit out of. Because consumers typically get best served if there is a minimal amount of competition in the market and two players are usually not enough," said Mahesh Uppal, Director ComFirst, a consulting organisation specialising in communications regulation, policy and development.Time to show-off your poker skills and win Rs.25 lakhs with no investment. Register Now!
