The shares of Vodafone Idea jumped to 16 percent as the Supreme Court agreed to hear the modification pleas of telecom players on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues next week.
On Friday, the stock of Vodafone Idea ended 25 pc lower at Rs 4.51 on BSE after the Supreme Court rejected the review petition by Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel challenging the apex court’s October 24 order on AGR.
Investors exited on fears that the telecom service provider would collapse in the absence of relief from the apex court, however, following the Supreme Court’s order, the shares of the company jumped.
Vodafone Idea and two other telecom operators on Monday filed a “modification application” with the apex court seeking a change in the 90-day payment deadline for dues on account of AGR, say reports.
The telecom operators also sought permission to engage with the department of telecommunications (DoT) on the terms and timing of payment.
An apex court bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde took note of submissions by a battery of senior lawyers including AM Singhvi and C A Sundaram and said it will list the fresh pleas “sometime in next week”.
Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and the Tata group, including Hughes Telecom (which was later named TTSL Maharashtra), requested the apex court to list their petition for urgent hearing on Tuesday.
As per the earlier order, the deadline for these telecom operators to pay Rs 1.47 trillion as AGR was January 23.
On October 24, 2019, the Supreme Court ordered the telecom operators to pay their licence fees and spectrum user charges (SUCs) within 90 days.
According to reports, Vodafone Idea has to pay a total of Rs 53,000 cr to the central government.
Sources said Vodafone is now planning to pay Rs 24,000 cr by January 23 as a token amount to show that they’re respecting SC’s verdict and to avoid any defaulter tag and then further ask for a due date extension.