According to government sources, Telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which have pending adjusted gross revenue dues will have to pay 10% of the total liability by March 31, 2021, irrespective of the part-time payments made by them. Operational telecom operators are expected to pay ₹ 12,921 crores by March 31, out of which close to 80% has to be paid by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

The Supreme Court has made very clear that the telecom operators have to make a 10% payment of the total dues as demanded by the DoT (Department of Telecommunications) by March 31, 2021. DoT has already raised a demand for full AGR (Adjusted Gross Revenue) dues. The 10% payment to be made will be calculated based upon total AGR liability. The telecom operators can clear the balance dues in 10 yearly installments from the next financial year onward. Bharti Airtel will have to pay ₹4,398 crores, and Vodafone Idea will have to pay around ₹5,825 crores against the total of ₹43,980 and ₹58,250. Similarly, BSNL and MTNL who haven’t made any payment will have to pay ₹583.5 crores and ₹435 crores by the end of this fiscal. Only Reliance Jio will not have to make any payment as it has cleared the entire AGR dues of ₹195.18 crores.

The DoT has raised a total demand of ₹1.47 lakh crore form the telecom companies, out of which some companies like Reliance Communications, Aircel, S Tel, Etisalat DB are either going through liquidation process or have shut down their operations.