| | MARCH 20228IN FOCUSVODAFONE IDEA URGES DOT TO ISSUE RS. 15,000 CRORE BANK GUARANTEESBY CEO INSIGHTS TEAMVodafone Idea (Vi) has sought release of bank guarantees (BGs) worth around Rs. 15,000 crore, held-up with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) against the telco's adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues. The cash-strapped telco has also sought freezing of the AGR dues on the day of the Supreme Court judgement of October 24, 2019."Vodafone has expressed the need to release bank guarantees since the AGR dues themselves have been deferred by four years. The company also wishes that the date of the apex court order in favour of the government be frozen as the date till which to compute the AGR dues", a senior government official told.Vodafone Idea's contention is that since the government's relief package has allowed the company to pay its AGR dues after four years and also secure the repayment through an option to convert the principal due amount into further government equity in the company, there was no need to keep holding onto the bank guarantees, the official said, explaining the carrier's point.The telco has told DoT that its potential investors were seeking these finer details, as the loss-making telco races to tie-up external funding by its self-mandated March end deadline. Vi's board is scheduled to meet on March 3rd to consider its fund raising options.The DoT, in its affidavits to the government, has pegged Vi's AGR dues at around Rs. 58,254 crore. This included license fees and spectrum usage charge (SUC) demands calculated up to FY2016-17. On these outstanding amounts, interest, penalty and interest on penalty was calculated up to October 2019, the government has said.Of its dues, Vi has already paid over Rs. 7,854 crore. The operator, in its October-December earnings statement, though pegged its AGR dues at Rs. 64,620 crore, factoring-in additional interest and penalty RETURN OF BGS WILL ADD TO THE BANKS' CAPITAL POOL, ALLOWING A CASH-STRAPPED TELCO LIKE VI ACCESS TO MORE LOANS, AS IT SEEKS TO INVEST IN ITS 4G NETWORK TO BETTER COMPETE WITH STRONGER RIVALS
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