The difficulties of telecom companies are not taking the name of diminishing now. Despite all the efforts of companies like Airtel, now it will have to give 1.02 lakh crore rupees in a week. The Supreme Court has dismissed the review petition of these companies.
The order which was given by the Supreme Court on 24 October is now upheld by the court and this decision will not be reviewed. Significantly, this money is from AGR i.e. Adjusted Gross Revenue and these three companies together have to pay Rs 1.02 lakh crore. These include additional license fees, spectrum usage, penalties and interest.
These companies hoped that the AGR could be relieved by the court. But Justice Arun Mishra, S.A. A bench of Abdul Nazir and MR Shah has rejected this review during the hearing.
Let us tell you that Vodafone-Idea and Airtel will have to pay the most money after this decision. Vodafone-Idea owes Rs 53,039 crore, while Airtel has to pay Rs 35,586 crore. There is a deadline till January 23, that is, before these companies have to pay the money.
Airtel Response
Bharti Airtel has issued a statement after the AGR review was rejected. The company has said, 'We would like to express our disappointment, respecting the decision of the Honorable Supreme Court. We believe that long-standing disputes regarding AGR definition were to be raised by factual and Bonafide'.
Airtel has said that the industry is constantly undergoing financial stress and as a result, the viability of the sector could be completely deteriorated. The company also says that Airtel is considering filing a curative petition.
What is AGR
Adjusted gross revenue (AGR) is the usage and licensing fees charged by telecom companies by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) of the Ministry of Communications. It has two parts – spectrum usage charge and licensing fees, which are 3-5 percent and 8 percent respectively.
