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Telecom operators to pay Rs 92,000 crore as dues to telecom department as SC rejects review plea 

The Supreme Court of India on Thursday dismissed review petitions filed by various telecom companies challenging its judgement in the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) case. 

Telecom bigwigs like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Communications (RCom) owe a whopping Rs 92,000 crore as a license fee to the telecom department. Another 41,000 crore is to be paid to the Department of Telecom (DoT) as a spectrum usage fee. 

In October last year, the apex court had granted three months to telecom operators to clear their dues with the telecom department.

The Indian telecom sector reels under heavy debts and suffers from a cut-throat price war. Supreme Court’s rejection of AGR pleas is likely to further add to the financial woes of the telecom operators.

Bharti, in its response, expressed the company’s disappointment with the top court’s verdict and said that it would evaluate filing another petition.

“The industry continues to face severe financial stress and the outcome could further erode the viability of the sector as a whole,” Bharti said in a statement reported by news agency Reuters.

According to reports, Bharti Airtel is supposed to pay a total of around Rs 23,000 crore to the telecom department. Reliance Communications has saddled Rs 16,456.47 crore worth of dues while Vodafone Idea has to pay Rs 19,823.71 crore as its dues.

Source: Thanks WIONews.com