Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel rise up to 5% ahead of SC verdict on AGR dues

NEW DELHI: Shares of telecom operators such as Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel climbed up to 5 per cent in Tuesday's trade amid hopes that the Supreme Court would pronounce a positive verdict on Rs 1.6 lakh crore adjusted gross revenue (AGR) issue later in the day.

The government has sought a 20-year time frame for telcos to pay back their balance AGR dues, while Vodafone Idea with over Rs 50,400 crore balance dues and Bharti Airtel nearly Rs 26,000 crore balance have sought 15 years.

The payment timeline of the AGR dues could decide the fate of Vodafone Idea.

Ahead of the hearing, shares of Vodafone Idea climbed 5.2 per cent to hit a high of Rs 10.72 on BSE. Bharti Airtel was ruling 0.90 per cent higher at Rs 518.60. Reliance Communications was down 4.6 per cent at Rs 2.30.

Vodafone Idea has warned it would be forced to shut shop if made to pay its dues at one go.

As per the cause list, a three-judge bench led by Justice Arun Mishra, and comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and MR Shah will also take a call on two other issues - on whether spectrum – or the right to use it – can be transferred under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and whether past AGR dues of bankrupt telcos such as Reliance Communications (nearly Rs 26,000 crore), Aircel (nearly Rs 14,000 crore) and Videocon (Rs 1400 crore) should be paid by companies such as Reliance Jio and Airtel, who have been using the spectrum of the ailing telcos through either spectrum sharing or trading contracts.

The main AGR verdict is expected to end a 16-year plus court battle between the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and operators.

While VIL has so far paid Rs 7,854 crore, Airtel has paid over Rs 18,000 crore. Reliance Jio which started operations in 2016 has been least affected by the AGR case and has cleared its dues of Rs 195 crore.