Vodafone Idea on Sunday announced new prepaid tariffs for its prepaid products and services.
Vodafone Idea had stated that it would increase its tariff from December 1. The announcement has come on the backdrop of its highest quarterly loss amid an adverse Supreme Court ruling on adjusted gross revenue (AGR).
New plans will apply across India starting 12 am on December 3.
The new plans are as follows:
Vodafone Idea posted a massive loss — the biggest loss in India’s corporate history — of Rs 50,921 crore in Q2 after the Supreme Court pronounced its judgment on the matter of Adjusted Gross Revenue.
In the AGR order, the SC said that telecom operators have to shell out a whopping Rs 92,000 crore in total in past dues at a time when they are grappling with tough competition, debt pressure and shrinking revenues. Multiple telcos have filed review petitions with the court.
They decided to go to the SC for review of the apex court's order of October 24 after the recent Cabinet decision cleared a two-year moratorium on spectrum payments but did not give any relief on the AGR front and the government announced in the Parliament that there is no consideration on its part to go for a waiver on any component of the Supreme Court's AGR order.
As per the Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad's replies to the Parliament, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and other telecom companies owe the government as much as Rs 1.47 lakh crore in past statutory dues. In replies to separate questions in the Lok Sabha, Prasad said telecom companies owe the government Rs 92,642 crore in unpaid licence fee, and another Rs 55,054 crore in outstanding spectrum usage charges.
A day before the results for Q2, the Department of Telecommunications notified telcos that the dues had to be paid within three months. After this, both Vodafone and Airtel posted huge losses.
With IANS inputs