bharti airtel: AGR dues: Bharti Airtel asks DoT to wait for SC’s hearing next week, before demanding payment

Bharti Airtel has written to the telecom department, asking it to await the Supreme Court’s directions on the modification plea before taking any action on the payment of statutory dues.

The telco follows Vodafone Idea in informing the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that although it will comply with the apex court’s orders , it would request the government to hold on till the next hearing before demanding payment.

The two operators’ decision to await the SC’s call on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) modification pleas, imply that they won’t make any payments to the government by the January 23 deadline.

ET reported its Thursday’s edition that DoT is likely to refrain from any coercive action such as issuing show-cause notices asking the phone companies why their permits shouldn’t be cancelled. The department will wait until January 24, a day after the deadline stipulated by the court in October, before it embarks on the next course of action, which could include seeking a legal opinion on the matter.

Vodafone Idea owes over Rs 53,000 crore while Bharti Airtel owes over Rs 35,500 crore and Tata Teleservices nearly Rs 14,000 crore in AGR-related dues. The phone companies were said to be initially planning to pay some part of this by the deadline but then took the view that the apex court’s decision to hear the modification petitions meant they could wait for its ruling on the matter.