The Digital Communications Commission, the highest decision-making authority at the department of telecommunications (DoT), will meet to discuss relief steps in the aftermath of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) crisis in the telecom sector, sources said. Last week, series of meetings had held between Vodafone Idea Ltd chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and top government officials. Birla had met telecom secretary Anshu Prakash, after which he also discussed the issue with finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The finance ministry and DoT have now started discussions on possible relief measures to prevent the sector from becoming a duopoly of Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd. Several proposals are being discussed to provide immediate relief from the AGR dues such as setting up a fund, which will lend money to telcos at a concessional rate to repay their dues, and at the option of a revised payment plan, which will enable companies to defer payment of penalties and interests in future, livemint reported.
However, the DoT has also asked all operators to speed up their assessment of adjusted gross revenue related to dues and submit documents supporting their calculation even after Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices and Vodafone Idea which made partial payment in the last week. On 14^th February, the telecom operators are scrambling to pay dues after the Supreme Court pulled up the telco and government officials for failing to comply with its October 2019.
Read EquityPandit’s Nifty Outlook for the Week
The telecom operators are scrambling to pay dues after the Supreme Court on 14 February which pulled up telcos and government officials for failing to comply with its October 2019 verdict.