Vodafone Idea might file review petition for AGR dues reduction

Vodafone Idea is taking all the necessary steps to reduce the AGR liability and eliminate the financial burden.

In the latest development, the cash-strapped telco is planning to file a review petition in the Supreme Court to have its AGR dues recalculated and reduced.

As reported by ET Telecom, if the review of the Vodafone Idea will be rejected, the telco will still have the option of a curative petition.

Since the Supreme Court dismissed the plea of telco and directed them to pay their AGR dues, Vodafone Idea is knocking on all the legal doors to have its AGR dues reduced significantly.

Vodafone Idea is desperately looking out for options to get a positive outcome and avoid the situation of bankruptcy.

In total, the telco giant has to pay Rs 58,254 crore towards AGR dues, out of which only Rs 7,854 crore has been paid to date.

The major problem that Vodafone Idea is facing in the AGR dues is the calculation strategy.

As per the calculations made by DoT, Vodafone Idea has to pay Rs 58,254 crores.

However, the telco believes that the calculations made by DoT are incorrect, and it has to pay Rs 25,000 crore towards AGR dues.

Tracing back to the results of the review petition, the chances of Vodafone Idea getting a favourable outcome is low.

It can only rely on the curative petition filing if the review petition is rejected by the Supreme Court.

Since Vodafone Idea is the worst affected telco from the verdict, the chances of Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices filing for the review petition is minimal.

For the past few months, Vodafone Idea is hunting down investors to raise funds of nearly Rs 25,000 crores.

If the telco receives funding from different companies, it will be able to pay its AGR dues of Rs 24,000 crores to DoT.

As per various analysts, Vodafone Idea would need multiple aids to continue operating in the Indian telecom space.

Some of the major events that would aid the telco would be a coordinated tariff hike, moratorium from the government on spectrum pricing, reduction in license fees and spectrum usage charges. TelecomTalk