By Prasoon Srivastava
New Delhi: Telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which have outstanding adjusted gross revenue installments, will be required to pay 10 percent of total liabilities by March 31, regardless of any partial payments they have made, according to sources. governmental.
Operating telecom operators are expected to pay Rs 12,921 crore before March 31, of which Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel must pay about 80 percent.
“The order of the Supreme Court is very clear in the sense that telecommunications operators must make the payment of 10 percent of the total quotas required by the DoT before March 31, 2021. The DoT has already raised the demand for full AGR quotas. The 10 percent payment to be made by March this year will be calculated on AGR’s total liability, “said a DoT official.
The official said that telecommunications operators can settle the balance of the quotas in 10 annual installments from the next financial year.
According to the officer, Vodafone Idea will have to pay around Rs 5,825 crore and Bharti Airtel Rs 4,398 crore against the total claim of Rs 58,254 crore and Rs 43,980 crore, respectively, collected by the DoT following the supreme court order.
The payment must be made regardless of the partial payments of Rs 7,854 crore and Rs 18,004 crore already made by Vodafone Idea and Airtel, respectively, the official said.
“The Supreme Court was aware of the payment that the companies had already made. Still, they clearly mentioned about 10 percent of the ‘total fees required by DoT,'” the official said.
Similarly, BSNL and MTNL, which have not made any payments, will have to pay Rs 583.5 crore and MTNL around Rs 435 crore at the end of this tax, according to the DoT’s interpretation of the higher court order.
When asked whether DoT will issue a demand notice for payment, the officer said there is no need for any notice, as the higher court order is already in effect and the companies are aware of the payment they must make.
Only Reliance Jio will not have to make any payments as it has settled all AGR installments of Rs 195.18 crore, another official clarified.
The DoT has raised the total demand to about 1.47 lakh crore rupees from telecommunications companies. Some of the companies like Reliance Communications (total fees of Rs 21,139 crore), Aircel (Rs 10,229.77 crore), S Tel (Rs 55.67 crore), Etisalat DB (Rs 31.81 crore) are either going through a liquidation process or have closed their operations. .
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