Airtel offers to pay Rs 10,000 cr by Feb 20, rest before next court hearing date

Bharti Airtel on Friday offered the Department of Telecom to pay Rs 10,000 crore by February 20 and the rest of the dues before the next date of hearing on the adjusted gross revenue case in the Supreme Court. After facing ire of the Supreme Court, the Department of Telecom on Friday directed all telecom operators to clear their dues by the end of the day.

"Nevertheless, in compliance with the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and their direction today, we shall deposit a sum of Rs 10,000 crore (on account) by 20th February 2020, on behalf of the Bharti Group companies," Airtel said in a letter to Member (Finance) at the DoT. Airtel owes nearly Rs 35,586 crore, including license fee and spectrum usage charge, to the government.

Airtel said that as directed by the Member (Finance), the company is in the process of completing the self-assessment exercises. "You will appreciate this is a complicated process, covering 22 circles, multiple licenses and a substantial period of time and hence is time-consuming," the letter said.

Telecom operators were required to clear their dues by January 23 as per the apex court judgment of October 24, 2019, in the matter. The top court of the country has directed the managing directors and directors of telcos and other firms to explain why contempt action be not taken against them for non-compliance of its order to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of Rs 1.47 lakh crore to the Department of Telecommunications.

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