Supreme Court upholds DoT’s definition of AGR calculation; a big setback for incumbents

In a big setback for incumbent telcos, the Supreme Court has ruled in favour of the government on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) issue. A bench led by Justice Arun Mishra, A.A. Nazeer and M.R. Shah has upheld the method of AGR calculation as suggested by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The apex court has said that all revenues accruing to telecom operators would constitute AGR. As per industry calculations, telecom companies have to pay around Rs 900 billion to the government.