Telecom major Airtel's Chief Regulatory Officer Ravi Gandhi has quit his post in the company, it was learnt on Thursday.
While the industry is abuzz with his resignation coming at a time when Airtel is facing several regulatory setbacks, company sources here said that Gandhi's resignation has nothing to do with these issues, and that he is moving on to another assignment outside Airtel.
Airtel is currently facing many regulatory issues. The most crucial one is its Rs 35,500 crore owed to the government on account of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, against which the company has filed a modification petition in the Supreme Court.
After Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal, Gandhi was the most visible face of the company in its dealings with the Department of Telecom (DoT).
Informed sources said that Gandhi had put in his papers one and a half months back and will continue with Airtel till March 2020.
Earlier on Thursday, Airtel wrote to DoT asking it to await the Supreme Court's directions on the company's modification plea before taking any action on the payment of statutory dues on account of AGR.
This comes after Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices filed a modification plea with the Supreme Court on Tuesday to allow the telcos to negotiate with the DoT on conditions and payment schedules of the statutory dues. Collectively, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Telecom and Tata Teleservices have to pay a total Rs 1.02 lakh crore in AGR-related dues.
Vodafone Idea too, reportedly informed the government that it is waiting for the Supreme Court decision on its plea (for) allowing it to negotiate with the DoT terms and timeline for payment of AGR dues before it takes any further steps on the matter.
However, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm reportedly paid its AGR dues of Rs 195 crore to the government on Friday.