Telcos pay over 8k crore to government in dues

New Delhi: 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.