AGR dues: Reliance Jio may have to pay for RCom and Airtel for Aircel

The Supreme Court on Friday observed that if any telecom operator has acquired spectrum through trading from another operator, then past dues need to be cleared. If the seller of spectrum does not clear the dues then the buyer has to clear them. This not only means that Reliance Jio may have to pay the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues of Reliance Communications for the spectrum which it bought from it, but even Bharti Airtel may have to pay a portion of dues of Aircel and Videocon as it bought spectrum in 2300 MHz and 1800 MHz bands from them.

A bench led by Justice Arun Mishra is currently hearing the AGR matter relating to insolvent telecom operators like Reliance Communications and Aircel.