Following SC rap, telcos asked to pay AGR dues immediately

Following SC rap, telcos asked to pay AGR dues immediately

In news:

• The Supreme Court ordered contempt proceedings initiation against Telcom companies for failing to pay even a “single penny” to the government in Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues, worth ₹1.47 lakh crore, despite an October 2019 judgment.

Timeline:

Daily Current Affairs IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 15th February 2020

SRC: The Hindu

From Prelims  Point of view:

Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR)

• The usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are charged by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)

• divided into spectrum usage charges and licensing fees ( 3-8 %)

Bone of contention: 

The definition of AGR has been under litigation for 14 years.

• As per DoT, the charges are calculated based on all revenues earned by a telco – including non-telecom related sources such as deposit interests and asset sales.
• As per Telcos, insist that AGR should comprise only the revenues generated from telecom services.

AGR is very Important in Mains Perspective too , it will soon be covered in Mains section