The Supreme Court rejects telcos’ plea to recalculate AGR dues

The Supreme Court has rejected telcos’ plea to recalculate their AGR dues. The move comes after telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) and Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL), had sought rectification of arithmetical errors in the calculation of their AGR dues. Earlier, the apex court had rejected the self-assessments done by operators and had ruled that the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) calculations were to be deemed as final. As per DoT’s calculation, Vi owes Rs 584 billion, Airtel owes Rs 439.8 billion and Tata Teleservices owes Rs 167.98 billion in AGR dues. Of this, Vi has paid Rs 78.54 billion, Airtel has paid Rs 180.03 billion and TTSL has paid Rs 41.97 billion. These telcos now need to pay their balance dues in 10 instalments by March 31, 2031.