Govt must close ‘legal disputes’ hurting telecom: Sunil Mittal on AGR dues

Indian telecom is not “out of the woods” despite proving itself indispensable in the weeks-long lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, said Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Tuesday, urging the government to “close long-standing legal disputes”.

The Supreme Court rejected on July 20 telecom companies’ demand for re-assessing their dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and said it will decide later a government’s plea to give the carriers a 20-year staggered payment timeline. The court upheld the amount to be paid by Bharti Airtel at Rs 25,976 crore and by Vodafone Idea at Rs 50,399 crore, factoring in the companies’ payments of Rs 18,004 crore and Rs 7,854 crore.