Apex court confirms govt math on telcos’ AGR dues

New Delhi: The Supreme Court confirmed the government assessment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues that telecom companies such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea need to pay and reserved its order on how much time they’ll get to do so. The two companies offered to pay the money in 15 years while the government stood by its proposal to give them 20 years.

The three-judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra upheld the amount to be paid by Bharti Airtel at ₹25,976 crore and by Vodafone Idea at ₹50,399 crore, factoring in payments of ₹18,004 crore and ₹7,854 crore, respectively. This affirmed the government’s calculations and rejected lower assessments made by the companies themselves. The court didn’t say when it would issue the order on how much time the carriers would get to clear their dues, which include licence fees, spectrum usage charges (SUC), interest and penalties.