AGR: Bharti Airtel pays Rs 8,000 cr more in 2nd installment to Department of Telecom - All details here

In a major development, telco major Bharti Airtel on Saturday paid another Rs 8,004 crore more as statutory dues in its second instalment to Department of Telecom (DoT). This takes the total amount paid by the operator to the government to Rs 18,004 crore, as per a report in IANS. The company said it is the full and final AGR amount. DoT calculations had pegged it at Rs 35,500 crore.

Adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues details

The latest deposit as adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues is split into Rs 3004 crore as full and final towards its AGR dues, based on its self assessment. It paid an additional Rs 5000 crore as "ad-hoc payment", subject to refund after the telecom department reconciles its own estimates with the telcos.

"...the Company has paid an additional amount of Rs 3,004 crores towards the full and final amounts due over & above the ad-hoc amount of Rs 10,000 crore paid on February 17, 2020 on behalf of the Bharti Group of Companies (Bharti Airtel, Bharti Hexacom and Telenor India), said the telco in a regulatory filing on Saturday.

"In addition to the aforesaid amounts paid on basis of our self-assessment, we have also deposited an additional amount of Rs 5,000 crore, as an ad-hoc payment,"(subject to subsequent refund/adjustment) to cover differences, if any, arising from the reconciliation exercise with the DoT," it added.

Earlier, on Wednesday, Bharti Airtel had announced a new range of roaming packs for subscribers travelling abroad. The telecom major also introduced new services and features for customers using international roaming packs.

"Airtel has developed new global packs which cover the most travelled countries. This would allow seamless travel across the world with just one pack," the company said in a statement.

One of the new roaming packs is priced at Rs 1,199, and offers 1 GB Data, 100 minutes of incoming and outgoing calls to India and in the host country and unlimited incoming SMS for 30 days.

The other two packs are priced at Rs 799 and Rs 4,999. The one priced Rs 799 offers 100 minutes of incoming and outgoing calls to India and host country, unlimited incoming SMS for 30 days and the pack priced Rs 4,999 offers customers 1 GB data per day, unlimited incoming calls, 500 minutes of outgoing calls to India and th host country, and unlimited incoming SMS for 10 days.

Airtel also said that customers on international roaming would be able to be able to track the usage of the pack on a real-time basis.

"Once the IR pack benefits are exhausted by the customer, data services would be barred to protect against any unwanted charges due to over-usage. Customers can take another pack or a top up, on the go through Airtel Thanks app," Airtel said in a statement.