Government directs telecom operators to make full payments towards AGR dues

The government has directed telecom operators to make full payments towards their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The government has so far received a payment of about Rs 259 billion from the telcos. Until now, BhartiAirtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) have paid Rs 180.04 billion, Rs 35 billion and Rs 41.97 billion respectively. Meanwhile, Reliance Communications and Reliance Jio have paid Rs 39 million and Rs 1.95 billion respectively. However, self-assessed AGR dues of BhartiAirtel, Vodafone Idea and TTSL are far lower than the Department of Telecommunications’ (DoT) estimates. As per DoT, Airtel owes Rs 370 billion, Vodafone Idea owes Rs 570 billion and TTSL owes Rs 140 billion in AGR dues. DoT will now conduct a reassessment of the AGR dues on the basis of documents submitted by telcos on self-assessed AGR dues.