Vodafone Idea pays Rs 1,000 crore to DoT towards AGR dues, aggregate stands at Rs 7,854 Cr

Vodafone Idea has paid a further sum of Rs 1,000 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) towards adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, the country's third-largest telecom operator said on Saturday.

It had earlier deposited Rs 6,854 crore in three tranches. "The company has thus paid an aggregate amount of Rs 7,854 crore towards the AGR dues," it said in a statement.

On October 24 last year, Supreme Court ruled in favour of the DoT definition of AGR that all revenue from telecom companies will be used for calculating it. The apex court rejected the argument of incumbent telecom operators (mainly Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel) that the AGR only included licence and spectrum fees.

The court's decision stemmed from a long-running dispute between incumbent service providers and the government on how to calculate the state's share of revenue, which it receives as part of the fee for handing over the telecom spectrum. The companies argued that only their revenue from the use of the spectrum should count. The government wanted a share of everything including, for example, revenue from rent.

A month ago, the Supreme Court asked the telecom operators to file audited balance sheets for the past 10 years including for the calendar year ending March 31 as well as income tax returns and particulars of AGR deposited during the last 10 years. It also called for making payments of a reasonable amount to show their bonafides before the next date of hearing.

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Losses mount, cash-strapped

Vodafone Idea on Wednesday reported a staggering Rs 73,878 crore of net loss in fiscal ended March 2020 – the highest ever by any Indian firm – after it provisioned for Supreme Court mandated statutory dues. The firm, which has to pay Rs 51,400 crore dues after the apex court ordered the non-telecom revenues to be included in calculating statutory dues, said the liability has "cast significant doubt on the company's ability to continue as a going concern".

In a regulatory filing, Vodafone Idea (VIL) reported a widening of March quarter net loss to Rs 11,643.5 crore. Its losses stood at Rs 4,881.9 crore in the same period a year ago and Rs 6,438.8 crore in the previous October-December quarter.

The company took a hit of Rs 1,783.6 crore on account of AGR-related liabilities, and Rs 3,887 crore on account of one-time spectrum charges (OTSC), both of which were recognised as exceptional items during the quarter ended March 2019.

Revenue from operations for the just-ended quarter came in at Rs 11,754.2 crore.

For the full year FY20, losses ballooned to Rs 73,878.1 crore. Vodafone Idea's losses stood at Rs 14,603.9 crore in FY19.

The company said that the financial results for the year ended March 31, 2020, are not comparable to those reported for the same period of the preceding year (merger between Vodafone India and Idea Cellular had taken effect in August 2018).

The revenue from operations for full-year FY20 stood at Rs 44,957.5 crore. The same was Rs 37,092.5 crore in FY19.

In a statement, the company said that the revenue had witnessed strong growth of 6% quarter-on-quarter, driven by prepaid tariff hike effective December 2019.

(With inputs from agencies)

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