Senior officials of the telecom department and other key ministries met on Sunday to chalk out urgent relief measures for the telecom industry, which is beleaguered by a serious crisis on account of dealing with the statutory dues it owes the Central government. The meeting, held at the Department of Telecom, lasted for over an hour. The official are said to have deliberated on options for the government to provide the much-needed lifeline to the AGR-hit industry.
Telecom department officials remained tightlipped after the high-level government meeting, where officials from NITI Aayog and Finance Ministry are said to have been present. The crucial meeting comes at a time when the telecom companies are staring at Rs1.47 lakh crore in unpaid dues — Rs92,642 crore in unpaid licence fee and another Rs55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges. Of the estimated dues that include interest and penalty for late payments, Airtel and Vodafone Idea owe about 60 per cent. While Airtel has raised $3 billion in last few months and is expected to have sufficient funds to tide over the AGR crisis, Vodafone Idea, which has only paid 7 per cent of its total statutory dues worth Rs53,000 crore, remains deeply vulnerable.
The Centre, meanwhile, is looking to strike a balance between complying with the Supreme Court order on AGR dues, ensuring health of the sector and safeguarding consumer interest. The statutory dues arose after the Supreme Court, in October last year, upheld the government’s position on including revenue from non-core businesses in calculating the annual Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and spectrum fee to the exchequer.
The Supreme Court earlier this month rejected a plea by mobile carriers such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Ltd for extension in the payment schedule and asked all of them to deposit an estimated Rs1.47 lakh crore in past dues for spectrum and licences.
Payments made so far
Vodafone Idea has so far paid only I3,500 crore in two tranches. Airtel has paid Rs 10,000 crore out of its estimated liability of over I35,000 crore. Tata Teleservices has paid I2,197 crore, the entire outstanding it believes to have arisen after the October ruling of the apex court for calculating dues.