This is the last lot of payments that telcos
will make towards deferred spectrum liabilities, as the Union Cabinet had late
last year approved a two-year moratorium on such spectrum payment dues.
Illustration: Dominic Xavier
Vodafone
Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio on Tuesday paid cumulative over Rs 6,000
crore to the government towards deferred spectrum dues while Tatas said it has
deposited another Rs 2,000 crore for ad hoc statutory liabilities.
The
development came as DoT prepared to send out fresh missive to telcos
questioning them about discrepancies in AGR dues assessed by firms and its own
calculations.
On Tuesday,
Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) CEO and MD Ravinder Takkar again met telecom secretary
Anshu Prakash although he remained tightlipped about the meeting.
While
crisis-ridden VIL has paid about Rs 3,043 crore to the telecom department for
deferred spectrum dues -- essentially instalment payments that are made by
telcos for airwaves bought in past auctions -- Bharti Airtel submitted Rs 1,950
crore and Reliance Jio Rs 1,053 crore towards the same.
The payment
made by VIL in particular assumes significance as the company has been under
financial pressure and is confronted with AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue)
liabilities of over Rs 53,000 crore.
This is the
last lot of payments that telcos will make towards deferred spectrum
liabilities, as the Union Cabinet had late last year approved a two-year
moratorium on such spectrum payment dues.
Separately,
Tata Teleservices on Tuesday said it has made an on-account AGR payment of an
additional Rs 2,000 crore to the Department of Telecom (DoT) on March 2
"in good faith and as a matter of abundant caution" towards licence
fees, spectrum usage charges and applicable interest, penalty and interest on
penalty.
"This on
account payment is subject to reconciliation after the conclusion of the
process of computation and verification being conducted by DoT spanning a
period beginning from FY2007 and spread across 20 circles," the company
said in a statement.
According to
sources, DoT has decided to send fresh letters to telecom companies questioning
them about the variation in AGR dues assessed by firms themselves and its own
calculations.
This is
because amounts paid by telcos so far, even those who have announced full and
final settlement, are woefully less than DoT's AGR estimates.
Sources said
the letters would go out within a day or two to telecom companies.
Bharti Airtel
recently submitted over Rs 18,000 crore to DoT declaring it has made full and
final settlement towards its AGR liabilities but the amount is far less than
over Rs 35,000 crore that the government estimates the company owes it.
It is
pertinent to mention here that Bharti Airtel on Saturday said it has made
payment of Rs 8,004 crore towards AGR dues to the government, an amount over
and above Rs 10,000 crore it has already paid.
The amount of
Rs 8,004 crore includes Rs 3,004 crore towards full and final settlement on AGR
dues based on self assessment, and a deposit of buffer Rs 5,000 crore to cover
DoT's reconciliation differences.
"Based
on the aforesaid payment we have now complied with AGR judgement and the
directions in the order of the Supreme Court dated October 24, 2019,"
Airtel had said in a regulatory filing.
Similarly,
Tata Teleservices has paid Rs 2,197 crore in AGR dues, and now additional Rs
2,000 crore to cover reconciliation differences, while DoT estimates the
liabilities to be about Rs 14,000 crore.
VIL has so
far deposited Rs 3,500 crore in two tranches to DoT but is still assessing its
full AGR dues. According to the government's calculation, VIL owes Rs 53,000
crore in AGR liabilities.
After the
meeting with the DoT secretary, Takkar declined to comment on how soon VIL would
be able to complete the self assessment of dues.
DoT has also
asked all telecom companies to furnish names of their MDs and their addresses,
sources said adding this had been a requirement of the court which wanted those
details.
In all, 15
entities owe the government Rs 1.47 lakh crore in unpaid statutory dues -- Rs
92,642 crore in unpaid licence fee and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding
spectrum usage charges.
Of the
estimated dues that include interest and penalty for late payments, Airtel and
VIL account for about 60 per cent.
These dues
arose after the Supreme Court, in October last year, upheld the government's
position on including revenue from non-core businesses in calculating the
annual AGR of telecom companies, a share of which is paid as licence and
spectrum fee to the exchequer.
The Supreme
Court last month rejected a plea by mobile carriers such as Bharti Airtel and
VIL for extension in the payment schedule and asked companies to deposit their
past dues for spectrum and licences.
Since the
February 14 tongue lashing that the Supreme Court gave telecom companies for
missing its previous deadline of January 23 to pay past dues as well as the DoT
for failing to enforce it, firms and the telecom ministry had been doing
separate maths on the actual dues.
Meanwhile,
IIFL Securities in a note on Tuesday said its recent interaction with senior
DoT officials suggests that the department is keen on ensuring that India
remains a three private player market and "its own assessment tallies with
our estimate that ARPU has to double from current levels".
The IIFL note
also highlighted that AGR burden for telcos may be 10-15 per cent lighter,
based on accurate assessment.
"Key
risk is the Supreme Court imposing fresh punitive measures when it learns that
the entire amount due has not been paid; however, we believe this is
unlikely," IIFL Securities said.