AGR -Contribution Question: DOT gives RS 7,827 crore notification to TATA Communications, firm says that licenses do not fall under SC -ordering -Times of India

The Department of Telecommunications (DOT) has issued a notification of “Show-Cause-Cum attack” of RS 7,827.55 Crore to TATA Communications for Adapted Gross Revenue (AGR) expenditure of almost two decades, the company unveiled in an official note of 17 July.The contribution has been increased for the financial years from 2005–06 to 2023–24. Tata Communications Managing Director AS Lakshminarayan said in the comment that the total demand RS 276.68 Crore comprises with regard to the rejections that the company claimed under different licenses, PTI reported.“On June 30, 2025, the company received ‘Toon Cause-Cum Demand knowledge’ (‘carrying messages’) from the telecommunications department of India that merges into RS 7,827.55 crore for financial years ranging from FY 2005-06 to FY 2023-24, which has been revised for a period of time,” said Lakminaray.He added that the amount of claims includes TATA Communications (Internet Service Provider) for FY 2010–11 and his NLD (National Long Distance) license for FY 2006–07 and 2009-10.The company said that his appeal with regard to AGR liability under ILD (International Long Distance), NLD and ISP statements are currently being processed for the Supreme Court and the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).Lakshminarayan clarified that this appeal is not linked to the ruling of 24 October 2019 on AGR rights, which related to telecom companies operating under the regime of the Unified Access Service License (UASL).“Furthermore, the company is of the opinion that all its licenses differ from UASL, the subject of the Hon’ble Supreme Court judgment of October 24, 2019.According to previous government calculations, telecom companies had a cumulative AGR liability of approximately RS 1.65 Lakh Crore to FY 2018–19. These estimates include the contribution of RS 59.236.63 Crore for Vodafone Idee, RS 31.280 Crore for Bharti Airtel, RS 16.224 Crore for BSNL, RS 5.009.1 CRORE for MTNL and RS 631 Crore for Reliance Jio. The contribution of TATA Communications was not part of that list.