NEW DELHI: Vodafone Idea on Saturday disclosed that it has paid the government another Rs 1,000 crore toward the Rs 58,000-odd crore it owes as Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues. The telco's payment to the Department of Telecom (DoT) comes just ahead of a crucial Supreme Court hearing in the matter on July 22.
The apex court is currently considering whether to grant the DoT's petition to allow Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- both of whom owe massive AGR dues -- the option to pay their remaining dues in installments spread over 20 years.
With revenues and margins decimated over the past few years funding a cut-throat price war between the incumbents and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, neither Vodafone Idea nor Airtel is in a place where they can comfortably shell out their entire AGR dues in one-go.
While Airtel has managed to raise enough capital over the past three quarters to withstand the cash outflow such a payout would require, Vodafone Idea has warned repeatedly that it will face bankruptcy in such a scenario.
Vodafone, Airtel and Tata group (Tata Teleservices) are the most impacted by the last year's SC verdict which widened the definition of AGR to include non-telecom revenues too. Since AGR is the basis on which levies like Spectrum Usage Charges and License Fees are calculated, the SC asked liable telcos to pay pending dues with over Rs 1.47 lakh crore in dues.
Vodafone, Airtel and Tata group (Tata Teleservices) owe Rs 58,254 crore, Rs 43,890 crore and Rs 16,798 crore respectively. Including Friday's disclosure, they have so far paid Rs 7,854 crore, Rs 18,004 crore, and Rs 4,197 crore.
Considering the dire straits the industry finds itself in, the DoT has approached the SC with a proposal to allow telcos more time to pay dues. While the bench is considering the matter, it had also asked the impacted telcos at the last hearing to "make payments of reasonable amount also to show their bonafides, before the next date of hearing".
"In line with the above, (Vodafone Idea) has yesterday (i.e. 17 July 2020) paid a further sum of Rs. 1,000 crore to the DoT towards the AGR dues," the telco said in a statement.
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