DoT issues ₹7,800-crore demand notice to Tata Communications over AGR dues
He said the demand notices include ₹276.68 crore towards disallowance of deductions claimed by the company on payment basis for the financial year (FY) 2010-11 under ISP (internet service provider) licence and FY07 and FY10 under NLD (national long distance) licence.
Tata Communications has existing appeals relating to its ILD (International Long Distance), NLD, and ISP licences that were filed in the past and are pending at the Supreme Court and telecom tribunal TDSAT.
Lakshminarayan said the company's appeals are not covered by the apex court judgement dated October 24, 2019, on AGR under the old telecom licence regime called UASL.
"Further, the company believes that all its licences are different from UASL, which was the subject matter of Hon'ble
Supreme Court judgement
of October 24, 2019. The company, based on its assessment and independent legal opinions, believes that it will be able to defend its position," Lakshminarayan said.
As per initial calculation by the government, telecom operators had liability to pay around ₹1.65 lakh crore in total
AGR dues
till FY19.
The calculation as of March 2022 showed that the AGR liability on
Bharti Airtel
was ₹31,280 crore,
Vodafone Idea
₹59,236.63 crore,
Reliance Jio
₹631 crore,
BSNL
₹16,224 crore,
MTNL
₹5,009.1 crore up to financial year 2018-19.
The government calculation at that time did not include liability on Tata Communications.
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