Airtel has approached the Supreme Court seeking a review of the Court’s previous order disallowing rectification of “arithmetical errors” in the computation of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. “Airtel filed its review petition in SC on Thursday,” Economic TImes reported quoting a person aware of the development.
The Sunil Mittal-led telco’s move comes days after its cash-strapped rival Vodafone idea moved the apex court with similar plea requesting the court to look into the alleged calculation errors by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which have impacted the duo the most. The court had dismissed the petitions of telecom firms in July.
The AGR dues for Bharti Airtel (Bharti) and Vodafone Idea (VI) will stay at Rs 44,000 crore and Rs 58,300 crore, respectively. The telcos’ own calculations were Rs 13,000 crore and Rs 21,500 crore, respectively, Edelweiss said in a report.
In case of VIL, against the total dues of Rs 58,254 crore, total payment received till date stands at Rs 7,854.37 crore, while the outstanding payable stands at Rs 50,399.63 crore.
For Bharti Airtel Group, whose overall dues stood at Rs 43,980 crore, payment of Rs 18,004 crore has been received to date and Rs 25,976 crore is outstanding payable.
odafone Idea (VIL) would be the “most adversely impacted” by the latest development, followed by Indus Towers (indirectly) while Bharti Airtel remains relatively better placed, analysts say.
It estimated that VIL has about Rs 24,000 crore of payments coming up by April 22, including existing debt repayment of Rs 8,000 crore, spectrum payment installment of Rs 8,200 crore, annual AGR payment of Rs 8,000 crore
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That implies network investments may not pick up even after such a capital raise, unless there is further relief from the government on payment timelines, that is, extension of moratorium on spectrum payment or unlikely event of any legislative action to extend AGR timelines, or on tariffs (either by facilitating tariff hike similar to December 2019 or with the regulator implementing floor tariffs), Citi said in its report last month.
