Will Airtel, Vodafone have to pay Rs 50,000 cr? SC order on AGR tomorrow

The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its judgment in the contentious issue of the definition of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) on Thursday. The fourteen year old case has the mobile operators locked in a legal battle with the government over the definition of AGR. It is the basis on which the Department of Telecom calculates levies payable by operators. Telecom companies pay around 3-5% and 8% of the AGR as spectrum usage charges and licence fees, respectively, to DoT.

The telecom companies contend that AGR should comprise revenue earned only from telecom services, while the DoT has been insisting that AGR should include all revenues, including those from non-core telecom operations. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone may have to collectively shell around Rs 50,000 crore if the judgment does not come in their favour.