Bharti Airtel Pays Greater than Rs 84 Billion to Authorities Attributable to Partly Clear Spectrum

Bharti Airtel, one of many massive telecom firms, has paid a big a part of the spectrum excellent quantity to the Central Authorities. The corporate has paid greater than Rs 84 billion to the federal government. The corporate had bought spectrum in 2016 for about Rs 17,852 crore.

Nonetheless, Bharti Airtel has not disclosed how a lot excellent quantity it has to pay after this fee. Not too long ago, the Supreme Court docket had rejected the request of telecom firms for re-calculation of the quantity because of the authorities. Bharti Airtel stated that the fee of greater than Rs 84 billion made to the Telecom Division consists of an rate of interest of 9.3 p.c. Within the first quarter of the present monetary 12 months, it had totally paid the spectrum charges for 2012 and 2015. Bharti Airtel didn’t reply to a request for remark despatched by Reuters.

Analysts at score company ICRA estimate that Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Concept should pay round Rs 1 lakh crore to the federal government as adjusted gross income (AGR) dues. This consists of spectrum prices and licensing charges. As a final resort, these firms had filed a petition towards an identical determination of the Supreme Court docket three years in the past. Their argument was that the Telecom Division had made errors within the calculation of the alleged excellent quantity of AGR. These firms stated that solely the income from their core companies needs to be counted within the calculation of the excellent quantity, whereas the federal government argued that non-core income must also be included in AGR. This additionally consists of the quantity acquired from lease or sale of land.

In a 2019 determination, the Supreme Court docket had upheld the federal government’s definition of AGR calculation. The Supreme Court docket’s rejection of its request for recalculation of AGR has dealt a significant blow to struggling Vodafone Concept, which has to pay round Rs 700 billion to the federal government in spectrum prices and license charges. The central authorities can also be the most important shareholder on this firm with 23.1 p.c stake.