DoT may have good news for Airtel, Vodafone-Idea

The telecom department will review the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues filed by telcos based on their self-assessment and then issue revised demand notices for the balance liabilities, minister of state for communications Sanjay Dhotre told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Telcos had been asked to pay AGR dues based on their own assessments and to submit documents for compliance.
“The department of telecommunications will carry out reassessments on the basis of documents submitted by telecom service providers in line with the licence agreement and issue revised demand notices,” Dhotre said. He was replying to a query on whether DoT had arrived at the final AGR dues amid variations detected due to accounting practices and the steps the government had taken to rework the liabilities.
Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal said on Wednesday that the Supreme Court had simply asked carriers to pay the AGR dues, without specifying the sum. Mittal said Airtel had paid its entire ₹13,004 crore of AGR dues based on its own assessment, although the DoT had the figure at ₹37,700 crore (including those of Telenor).