Bharti Airtel has informed the Department of Telecom that it will avail of the four-year moratorium on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and spectrum dues, news agency PTI reported.
Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea was the first telecom company to opt for the moratorium offered by the government as part of a relief package. The company had earlier said that its board decided to opt for AGR payment moratorium from October 2021 to September 2025.
Now, Sunil Mittal-led Airtel has intimated the government that it will "take the four-year moratorium on AGR and spectrum dues with the option of prepaying as per NIA (notice inviting application) norms", as reported by PTI.
The Cabinet on September 16 approved a relief package for the telecom sector. This included a four-year moratorium on payment of AGR dues by telecom companies and allowing 100 percent foreign investment through the automatic route.
Announcing the decisions, Union Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, "All non-telecom revenue will be taken out of AGR... Annual compounding (of interest) will be done instead of monthly compounding... Spectrum sharing is also being completely allowed, it has been made completely free."
The Department of Telecom also extended the option of converting operators’ dues owing to the deferred payment into equity at the end of the four-year moratorium period.
The measures were announced to ensure that the telecom sector remains a three-player market and provide relief to debt-ridden telcos like Vodafone Idea that have to pay thousands of crores of rupees in unprovisioned past statutory dues.
The government had written to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio asking them to convey their interest in opting for the four-year moratorium on AGR spectrum payments by October 29.
In August, Airtel disclosed that its profit for the April-June period declined 63 percent to Rs 283 crore when compared to Rs 759 crore in the last quarter of the previous financial year (Q4FY21).
