Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea Get Huge Relief from AGR Dues Amidst Coronavirus Outbreak

The global spread of Covid-19 has created instability in various industries around the world, including the Indian telecom sector. Indian Government has recently declared 21 days lockdown to fight back the deadly virus. Telecom Industry which is worst hit by Covid-19 is also facing operational issues as millions of people are using networks at the same time. According to an ET Telecom report, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has subsided the issues of default in AGR payments and are just focusing on maintaining the digital infrastructure which will cater the needs of billions of people are who are relying on the stable network to work from home. Telcos such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea will get huge relief amidst the outbreak of Coronavirus.

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Supreme Court Slammed Telcos and DoT for Self-Assessed AGR dues

Supreme Court heard the matter of AGR dues on March 17, 2020, and slammed the telcos along with DoT officials. The Supreme Court stated that self-assessment of AGR dues is contempt of court and DoT should not have allowed telcos to self-assess their dues. Not only this, but the supreme court also directed the telcos to pay their AGR dues as estimated by DoT without any delays.

However, the court agreed for deferred payment mechanism, which was scheduled to be heard in two weeks. Since the entire nation is a lockdown, the next hearing regarding AGR dues is unclear. As per telcos, a situation of duopoly and monopoly will disrupt the entire telecom industry at the time of crises where telcos have to provide services to 1.3 billion people.