Railtel Corporation Moves SC On AGR Ruling
[ By Bobby Anthony ]RailTel Corporation has moved the Supreme Court, seeking a modification or a clarification about its October 24 order on adjusted gross revenue (AGR).RailTel has sought a clarification that the Supreme Court’s October 24 order pertains only to access service provider license holders such as telecom companies, and not to all license holders for internet service and...
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RailTel Corporation has moved the Supreme Court, seeking a modification or a clarification about its October 24 order on adjusted gross revenue (AGR).
RailTel has sought a clarification that the Supreme Court’s October 24 order pertains only to access service provider license holders such as telecom companies, and not to all license holders for internet service and national long distance telephone services.
“It is submitted that the applicant is an internet service provider and national long-distance service provider where the definition of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) is different and does not include the words 'any other miscellaneous revenue' which is otherwise defined in clause 19 of the license agreement of access service,” the RailTel petition stated.
The RailTel petition state that it seemed that appeals of internet service providers (ISPs) and national long-distance (NLD) service license holders have been “inadvertently clubbed with” appeals dealing with access service license in which the court passed judgment on October 24.
The petition has urged the Supreme Court that the company “be brought out from the purview of the judgment” because it does not hold a telecom service license.
Incidentally, RailTel is a telecom infrastructure provider owned by the Indian Railways which happens to holds ISP as well as NLD licenses.
RailTel stated that it has filed a clarification request in the Supreme Court. Earlier, the Department of Telecom (DoT) had asked for approximately Rs 290 crore in its various notices as license fee on AGR.
However, RailTel has submitted comprehensive representation to DoT clarifying that the judgment of the Supreme Court should not have any impact on it.
The company also stated in its plea that payment of such statuary dues would have an adverse impact in its upcoming projects.
“RailTel had been awarded project-based contracts either through competitive bidding and/or on nomination basis. All these projects will become unviable because AGR charges were not built in estimates and it will result in busting of the estimated costs, thereby impacting profits severely,” the RailTel plea stated.
