‘Examining impact of SC’s telecom order’ – Times of India

New Delhi: Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said govt is examining “repercussions” of SC’s decision to dismiss the curative petitions regarding the Oct 2019 telecom AGR judgement, but added that the top court’s order “has to be executed”. The comments come on a day when Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra told investors that the company has “initiated fresh dialogue with govt on likely remedies” after the SC decision.
Scindia, briefing the media on developments in first 100 days of third term of the Modi govt, said the department of telecom is seized of the matter. “Whatever the SC has ordained, the process has to be executed. We are examining… (and) see what repercussions.”
However, he added that the telecom sector is in good health and will witness growth. “Our telecom sector is an extremely robust sector where we have four players (Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and BSNL/MTNL). I look at a very strong telecom sector moving forward.”
Earlier during the day, Vodafone Idea briefed investors about impact of the SC decision and also about its future investment plans. Moondra said the outcome of the SC decision on curative petition is not on expected lines. “The outcome of the curated petition is disappointing, (but) it does not have any impact on long-term business plan of the company and its liabilities.”
He said the company expects govt to give a direction on future movement post the SC decision.
“For AGR dues case, we believe this will be the final outcome from the court. The action on AGR dues now falls onto govt. We are in the process of putting request with govt for AGR dues.”
Vodafone Idea’s stock had got a hammering after the SC order. It has tried to assuage investor concerns by announcing investments in network expansion. The company has promised a “smart turnaround” by lining up Rs 55,000 crore investment, including Rs 30,000 crore spending on network equipment purchase from Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung.