Indian telecom carriers tussle with government over licence fees
BENGALURU, Sept 19 (Reuters) -India's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request by telecom companies including Vodafone Idea VODA.NS and Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS to recalculate how much they owe the government in licence fees.
The long-standing issue has whittled away at debt-ridden Vodafone's cash flow and threatened its survival in the Indian telecom market which is dominated by Airtel and Reliance Industries' RELI.NS Jio.
Here is a timeline of events that led to the latest ruling:
2019: India's top court asks telcos to pay down dues of $13 billion on adjusted gross revenue, leading to a jump in the amount the firms owed the government.
Vodafone says it will ask the federal government for relief on payments of at least $4 billion, and a lobby group warns of catastrophe for the sector.
Airtel and Vodafone hike prices and ask the Supreme Court to review its ruling.
2020: India's top court rejects the companies' petition to review its 2019 ruling. The government orders mobile carriers to immediately pay the dues a day after the Supreme Court threatened the companies and officials with contempt proceedings.
Telecom operators get 10 years from the Supreme Court to pay the dues; firms to pay 10% of the charges owed by March 31, 2021.
2021: Non-executive Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla steps down from Vodafone, sending shares down and fuelling concerns that the Indian wireless carrier may not survive the government's bill.
Banks, led by State Bank of India SBI.NS, call on the Indian government to give debt-laden Vodafone Idea more time to clear its tax dues and spectrum fees.
Days later, India's federal cabinet approves a relief package for the cash-strapped telecoms sector including a four-year moratorium on the dues.
2022: Vodafone approves the conversion of dues and interest related to spectrum auction installments into equity in Jan.
A month later, the Indian government orders Vodafone to convert its dues of 161.33 billion rupees into equity.
2023: A petition was filed by telcos in September companies, asking the Supreme Court to re-calculate the dues.
2024: Vodafone launches its 180 billion rupee-share sale, planning to use the funds to expand its 4G network, set up 5G networks and pay taxes and dues.
It also issues shares worth 24.58 billion rupees to Nokia and Ericsson to raise capital.
Reporting by Varun Hebbalalu in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
