AGR relief to Vodafone Idea based on SC ruling, others must follow same route: Scindia

New Delhi [India], January 21 (ANI): Amid reports that other large telecom operators are seeking equitable treatment on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liabilities following the government's decision to grant Vodafone Idea a 10-year moratorium, Union Minister of Communications Jyotiraditya M. Scindia on Wednesday clarified that the relief was granted strictly on the basis of a Supreme Court judgment and does not automatically extend to other players.
Responding to a question by ANI on whether the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has received any official communication from other telcos seeking similar relief, Scindia said the government's decision was rooted in the apex court's recognition of Vodafone Idea as a special case.
"The decision that the Government of India has taken is based on the judgment that was pronounced by the Supreme Court where it has seen Vodafone as a special case, both because it has 20 crore customers, as well as the fact that the government owns 49% of its equity. Based on that decision of the Supreme Court, the government has taken it taken a view in terms of a policy what needs to be done with regard to the AGR dues and the spectrum views remain the same," the miniter said.
"But the AGR dues have been frozen at 87,000 crores to be paid over an equal period, 10 year period, starting 2031 to 2041 if there are others that have that desire then then They will have to also go through the same route," he added.
Speaking on reviewing the performance of BSNL through monthly meetings, the Minister said, "This is a model that we adopted almost a year ago where our reviews do not take place at the CMD level or at the director level in headquarters in New Delhi, but take place at the Chief General Manager (CGM) level, who is in charge for every circle, every CGM is the CEO of his or her circle, and therefore their involvement is key to be able to succeed in a turnaround of DSM."
"Over the last four quarters that we have been doing this, we have seen tremendous amount of results," he said.
He also affirmed that for the fiscal ending 31st of March 2026, BSNL will not only show increase in revenue, but also operating profit.
The Communications Minister also spoke on the Sanchar Sathi app. Calling it a "huge success", he said, "Through the Jan bhagidari initiative, we've had over 20 crore hits on our portal, almost over one and a half two crore downloads on our app.
Speaking on 6G roadmap, the minister said India has set an ambitious target of contributing 10% of global patterns to future 6G standards, while simultaneously moving close to achieving complete 4G saturation across the country.
"By end of June this year, we aim at providing full 4G saturation across every length and breadth of India," the minister said.
"The standardization process, driven primarily by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and 3GPP, emphasizes AI-native networking, integrated sensing, and terahertz (THz) spectrum usage to enable applications like holographic communication and digital twins," the minister said.
"We have seven verticals within Bharat 6G which are working assiduously on technology, equipment, use cases, policy making which is being reviewed on quarterly basis," he said.
While speaking with ANI on the 6G Roadmap of India, Union Minister said, "We initiated the 6G vision documents in 2022, which is active and has grown from 12 organisations to 18 hundred organisations. Not only technology-driven companies, but also our IITs and other respected institutions, involve all our entrepreneurs across the board. Our target is to contribute 10% of the patterns to the 6G formulations"
Speaking further on the 4G saturation, Minister Scindia said, "4G saturation involves all operators working to ensure that every village has connectivity. There are close to 39,000 villages that were still not connected when we rolled out the project. 21,000 towers were installed, and another 5,000 towers will be erected by June of this year to connect the entire length and breadth of India" (ANI)