AGR: Voda Idea seeks hike in mobile data to Rs 35 per GB, calls to 6p a min

Current mobile internet prices are in the range of Rs 4-5 per GB

Vodafone Idea has demanded fixing minimum tariffs for mobile data at Rs 35 per GB, around 7-8 times of current prices, and for calls at 6 paise per minute along with monthly charges from April 1 to enable it pay statutory dues and make its business sustainable. The loss-making telco is under pressure to clear adjusted gross revenue dues of more than Rs 50,000 crore to comply with a Supreme Court order. The company has sought 18 years time to clear the dues, including a three-year moratorium on payment of interest and penalty, according to official sources.

“There are number of demands that Vodafone Idea has put across the government for its survival. The company wants minimum price of data should be fixed at Rs 35 per gigabyte and minimum monthly connection charge at Rs 50 from April 1, 2020. These are tough demands which is a problem for government to fulfil,” an official told PTI on the condition of anonymity. Current mobile internet prices are in the range of Rs 4-5 per GB.

According to the source, Voda Idea wants minimum price of outgoing calls should be fixed at 6 paise per minute. The demand to raise call and internet rates from Vodafone Idea comes within three months of company raising prices by up to 50 per cent. “According to the company, increase in mobile call and data rates will help it generate revenue to the same level as Vodafone and Idea individually generated in 2015-16. The company has said that it will take three years to get to that level after tariff hike hence it has sought three-year moratorium for payment of AGR dues,” the source said.

AGR dues: Vodafone Idea on the brink as DoT may revoke bank guarantees

Solicitor General’s view sought after SC refuses relief; telcos pay a fraction of the total AGR dues

In a day of twists and turns, the government received Rs 14,697 crore from three companies out of the telecom sector’s total dues linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR) estimated at Rs 1.47 trillion, even as the Supreme Court dismissed Vodafone Idea’s plea seeking relief from revocation of its bank guarantee.

Not leaving anything to chance, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has sought legal opinion including that of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on whether to revoke bank guarantees of companies in case they fail to pay their full AGR dues before the next date of hearing on March 17. Any move to revoke or encash the bank guarantee would put the operation of highly-stressed Vodafone Idea at risk.

The firm has maintained that without a relief on the AGR payout, it may not be possible to continue as a going concern. Also, according to a CNBC-TV18 report, Voda Idea has written to the DoT and the Income Tax Department, seeking adjustment of its AGR dues against a Rs 7,000-crore pending tax refund related to an earlier SC judgement that Vodafone-Hutchison deal was not taxable in India…

AGR verdict: Data could be the new Onion, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad

The need of the hour could be to let Vodafone-Idea continue with the business providing them an extended rope to make the payments over a period of time, than to kill the “goose”

Economy News: The Hon. Preeminent Court on Friday rapped the telecom administrators and requested them to pay the balanced gross income (AGR) contribution by the stroke of 12 PM on Friday. This is likened to an “Execution order” for Vodafone-Idea. The legitimate framework needs to observe the standard book and is bound by law. In any case, it’s the official which needs to “think and react quickly” and make sense of the best answer for this circumstance from a comprehensive perspective, versus nailing a “guilty party”.

Everyone’s eyes would be on the Telecom Minister, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, who should think “out-of-the-container” than take the simple way of toeing the Hon. Court’s order. Before closing Vodafone-Idea, the Telecom Minister should make sense of how to recuperate AGR duty from the cadavers of telecom division, viz. Dependence Communication (RCom), Aircel, Telenor, Sistema and Videocon. Not every person accompanies a rich family like the Tatas, who are satisfying off obligations of Tata Teleservices through the parent Tata Sons.

Presently, here is the thing that would occur if Vodafone-Idea were to close shop:

– Non-recuperation of contribution: It will invalidate the very point of AGR, transforming this imbroglio into a since a long time ago drawn procedure with no lucidity on conclusion.

– Job misfortunes: About 14,000 representatives, alongside various other people who are legitimately reliant on Vodafone-Idea as easygoing specialists, sellers, specialist organizations and so forth will endure.

– Non-performing resources (NPAs): Nearly Rs 1.15 trillion could turn NPA. This could be another IL&FS-type occasion. In contrast to different NPAs, the purported “resources” of a telecom organization can vanish in slim air the day it closes down. Moreover, who might bear the duty taking care of home advances, individual advances and so forth of the workers?..

Airtel, Voda Idea and Jio to hike mobile, data tariffs by up to 40%

Tariff hike for Airtel and Vodafone will be effective from Dec 3, while for Jio the new rates will be applicable from Dec 6

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea on Sunday announced a tariff hike in the range of 15 per cent and 40 per cent across different plans. The tariff hike by both companies will be applicable from December 3, 2019. Vodafone Idea on Sunday said its new plans for its prepaid products and services would be available across India, starting 00:00 hours of December 3, 2019.

Airtel’s new plans represent tariff increases in the range of a mere 50 paise per day to Rs 2.85 per day and offer generous data and calling benefits. “Our new mobile plans offer tremendous value to our customers and are backed by a superior network experience on Airtel’s nationwide 4G Shashwat Sharma, chief marketing officer, Bharti Airtel, said in the statement.

Reliance Jio also said it would be introducing new plans with unlimited voice and data. These plans will have a fair usage policy for calls to other mobile networks. The new plans will be effective from December 6, 2019. “Although the new all-in-one plans will be priced up to 40 per cent higher, staying true to its promise of being customer-first, Reliance Jio customers will get up to 300 per cent more benefits,” Reliance Jio said in a release.

Vodafone Idea reported a massive pre-tax loss of Rs 36,959 crore in Q2 after it provided for payments related to AGR. The company took a hit of Rs 30,774 crore (including AGR) for the quarter. This led to a loss of Rs 50,922 crore at the net level — the highest-ever for an Indian company. The company had posted a loss of Rs 4,974 crore in the year-ago quarter, while the loss in the April-June quarter was Rs 4,874 crore….

AGR impact: Voda Idea posts biggest quarterly loss in India Inc history

AGR liability leads to pre-tax loss of Rs 36,959 crore

Vodafone Idea reported a massive pre-tax loss of Rs 36,959 crore for the July-September quarter after it provided for payments related to adjusted gross revenues, or AGR. The company took a hit of Rs 30,774 crore (including AGR) for the quarter. This led to a loss of Rs 50,922 crore at the net level, the highest-ever for an Indian company. The company had posted a loss of Rs 4,974 crore in the year-ago quarter while the loss in the June quarter was Rs 4,874 crore.

Giving a break-up of the liabilities on account of AGR, the company provisioned for Rs 27,610 crore on account of licence fees and Rs 16,540 crore, including interest and penalties on interest, related to spectrum usage charges (SUC) up to September 30, 2019. Liabilities on account of AGR are Rs 25,678 crore. The estimate is based on demands received from Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and additional estimates.

While the company has provided for SUC, considering that no spectrum is used for generating non-telecom income, it is evaluating the levy of SUC on such income. The company is in the process of filing a petition to review the Supreme Court judgment of AGR.Revenue from operations stood at Rs 10,844 crore, down 3.8 per cent down from the last quarter. This was marginally lower than the Bloomberg consensus estimates of Rs 10,925 crore. The results were impacted by seasonality and severe floods in many of its key markets. On a year-on-year basis, revenue recovered by 41.5 per cent....

AGR payments: Reliance Jio slams peers, questions telecom sector stress

Says incumbents have enough resources, monetisation opportunities pay up

Reliance Jio on Wednesday attacked incumbent operators, saying it disagreed with “the threatening and blackmailing tone” of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) letter. In a letter on Tuesday night, the COAI had written to Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, claiming that the Supreme Court (SC) judgment on the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) will lead to a monopoly in the sector and the government’s digitisation programme will suffer.

The Supreme Court (SC) had on October 24 agreed with the Department of Telecom’s (DoT’s) definition of the AGR, asking the telcos to pay dues and interest amounting to Rs 1.33 trillion within three months.

In its letter of protest addressed to COAI Secretary General Rajan Matthew, Reliance Jio said it had taken “strong umbrage at the COAI exploiting the legitimate payout obligations to create alarmist propaganda”. It also alleged “it appears that this sum was used for expanding some other business as per their (incumbents’) commercial decisions”.

A top executive of Jio said: “We do not agree to the contention of the incumbents that they are not in a financial position to pay their legitimate dues.” In its letter, Jio said, “operators have capacity and enough monetisation possibilities to comfortably pay government dues”…