Bharti Airtel opts for four-year moratorium on payment of AGR dues

Close on the heels of Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel is learnt to have opted for the four-year moratorium for payment of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues.
 
The company is believed to have conveyed its willingness to opt for a moratorium, which was announced as part of the relief package.
 
It is learnt that the letter of acceptance was sent by the company to the department of telecommunications (DoT) last week.
 

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal, had last month, said the company will opt for a payment moratorium and redirect the cash flow to aggressively build networks.
 

With regard to interest dues on moratorium, Mittal had said Airtel will take a decision, on whether to go for equity conversion or pay cash, when the offer comes from the government.
 
Last week, Vodafone Idea said its board has opted for the four-year moratorium from October 2021 to September 2025. The government has offered the option to defer payment of spectrum auction instalments due up to four years, with immediate effect, excluding the instalments due for spectrum auction 2021. This option is applicable from FY23 to FY26.
 
These deferred amounts will be spread equally over the remaining instalments to be paid, without any increase in the existing time period specified for making the instalment payments.

 
Interest, as stipulated in the relevant year of auction of spectrum will, however, be charged so that the net present value (NPV) of the payable amount is protected.
 
The government recently approved a relief package for the sector that includes a four-year break for companies from paying statutory dues, permission to share scarce airwaves, change in the definition of revenue on which levies are paid and 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route.