AGR dues: Vodafone Idea pays Rs 3,043 crore to govt

Vodafone Idea, which has so far paid only Rs 3,500 crore of its Rs 53,039 crore of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, on Tuesday paid around Rs 3,043 crore towards its deferred spectrum dues, sources said.

Deferred spectrum dues are essentially installment payments that are made by telecom operators for spectrum bought in past auctions. Operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have to pay such installments till 2031 but after the current payment they need not pay for the next two years. This is because the government had last year provided them a two year moratorium on such payments to provide relief on the cash flow front. However, the interest on the amount will be added and the net present value of the amount due will remain intact.

Sources said that on Tuesday Bharti Airtel also made the payment of Rs 1,950 crore towards its deferred spectrum dues, while Reliance Jio paid Rs 1,053 crore.

Meanwhile, on the AGR dues front, Tata Teleservices on Tuesday made an additional payment of about Rs 2,000 crore on ad hoc basis. This was over and above the Rs 2,197 crore payment it had made on February 17. The company said that the additional payment is aimed at covering any reconciliation differences.

According to department of telecommunications, the dues of Tata Teleservices are Rs 13,823 crore.

So far Bharti Airtel has also paid Rs 18,000 crore towards its AGR dues against DoT’s calculation of Rs 35,586 crore. Bharti has said that as per its calculation its dues stand at Rs 13,000 crore and it has paid an additional Rs 5,000 crore to cover any reconciliation differences.

Meanwhile, sources said that DoT will write fresh letters to telecom operators like Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices questioning them about the variation in AGR dues assessed by them and its own calculations. It is likely that the matter may be challenged in the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal at a later date.

The DoT has also asked all telecom operators to furnish names of their managing directors and their addresses stating that this needs to be furnished to the Supreme Court.