The Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has started the proceedings of the dispute between operators and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) over the definition of the term adjusted gross revenue (AGR) for calculating licence fee. TDSAT has issued a notice to DoT in this regard.
Operators opine that the income from telecom services (excluding other income like interest on savings, dividends, bundling of handsets and others) should not be considered for this purpose. However, DoT considers the total income of the firm as an AGR.
Prior to this, in 2007, TDSAT had ruled that the income from dividend, interest income on savings, capital gains, management consultancy and training as well as gains from foreign exchange should not be a part of AGR for paying revenue share or license fee to the government.
This was challenged by DoT in the Supreme Court. However, the counsel representing various telecom operators told the tribunal that they were exploring various alternatives to this.
Meanwhile, the TDSAT bench headed by Justice S.B. Sinha has said that if DoT raises invoices against the operators on the basis of the recent Supreme Court order, they can also challenge it before the tribunal.
The tribunal has set December 15, 2011, as the next date of hearing of this issue.
