AGR was our issue as well, engaged with government for recalculation: Sunil Bharti Mittal

NEW DELHI: While the government has started revaluing Vodafone Idea’s adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, Bharti Airtel has also approached the department of telecommunications (DoT) for similar recalculation of its dues.

“From our perspective, we hope that AGR is our problem too and we are writing to the government and hoping that we will get the government’s attention,” said Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises. CNBC-TV18 On the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum in Davos.

Mittal’s comments came after the Union Cabinet last month decided to reduce Vodafone Idea’s AGR dues. ₹87,695 crore as on December 31, 2025 and approved a payment plan that will enable the company to collect these dues between FY32 and FY41. Last week, the telecom department started reassessing Vodafone Idea’s AGR dues for the period between FY 2007 and FY 19.

The reassessment exercise follows Supreme Court orders in October and November that allowed the government to reassess and recalculate the company’s AGR dues.

Mittal said he was yet to receive a response from the government on Airtel’s request. “We heard from the minister yesterday that everybody needs to follow the route that Vodafone Idea followed which is via the (Supreme) Court,” he said, adding that the company wants to present its case to the government, particularly on reassessment and recalculation.

He said this was not a legal point, but a mathematical point and correction of errors. Mittal added, “First of all, we are negotiating with the government,” and noted that the company is not pursuing legal action for now.

Bharti Airtel’s deferred payment liability towards AGR was as of: ₹38,604 crore as per FY25 annual report.

When asked about the impact of the reassessment on the company, Mittal said the formula will be the same for everyone. The reassessment will include checking for money paid but not counted by operators and for double billing.

“If all of this is met, your underlying principal will drop and then there will be a cascading effect on the penalty, there will be interest on the penalty and the amount may drop significantly,” he explained, adding that he didn’t think any government would want to take more money than it deserves. “We say get what you deserve. We don’t want concessions. But don’t take more than what you deserve.”

In terms of mobile subscriber market share, Airtel trails Reliance Jio with 41.4% market share at 33.6%. According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Vodafone Idea subscriber market share stood at 17% as of the end of November.

About the facility provided to Vodafone Idea, Mittal said, “We hope that Vodafone Idea will start to be more active in the market.”

He added that the “three plus one” market structure is good for a country like India as it keeps competition balanced for customers.

Bharti Airtel is currently the industry leader in terms of average revenue per user (Arpu). ₹256 per month as of end-September. On the possibility of tariff increases, Mittal said, “Everyone agrees that tariff repair is absolutely necessary. No one, including the government, believes that you can have a very solid, robust infrastructure that supports India’s digital dreams without regular investments.”

Mittal reiterates Airtel’s ambition ₹300 Harpu. “Billions of dollars go into network, spectrum every year. So there needs to be a reasonable commercial use case,” he said.

This comes at a time when market leader Reliance Jio last week ruled out any immediate increase in tariffs and signaled confidence in organic growth in Arpu driven by increased 5G usage. Reliance Jio’s monthly Arpu as of end-December was: ₹213.7. Bharti Airtel is yet to announce its earnings for the December quarter.

african market

Airtel is now Africa’s second largest telecom operator, with a subscriber base of 173.8 million as of the end of September. However, earnings growth and profitability remain under pressure in many African markets due to currency weakness.

“If the currency remains in permanent depreciation mode of 3-4% per year, I think Airtel Africa could generate revenues of $10 billion,” Mittal said, adding that if currencies do not depreciate sharply, revenues would currently be in the range of $17-18 billion.

Mittal said Africa is among the fastest growing telecom markets globally. “The market is growing at over 20%. You don’t see that anywhere else.”

He added that Airtel Africa currently generates around $6 billion in revenue and that $10 billion in revenue and EBITDA of around $5.5 billion is a realistic possibility.

Investment Expenditures

On growth opportunities, Mittal said Airtel is aggressively expanding its data center and standalone cloud businesses. Addressing capital expenditure (capex), he said, “Capex has not come down. We are spending ₹30,000 crore capex every year. “It will continue to be spent.”

He explained that investment requirements vary depending on the technologies. If spending slows on 4G, it moves to 5G, and as 5G deployment decreases, capital is directed to fiber, fixed wireless access (FWA) and data centers.

“I could say a little more ( ₹less than 30,000 crore ( ₹Adding that 6G standards are still being developed and are a few years away, it will be in the order of magnitude (30,000 crore for capex), Mittal said.

Navi Mumbai airport problem

A dispute has arisen between Navi Mumbai International Airport and telecom operators over the provision of mobile connectivity at the airport. A similar dispute took place on the Mumbai Metro Aqua Line, where passengers have been facing connectivity issues for nearly three months due to disputes over commercial terms.

On the airport issue, Mittal said: “There is a lot of noise. I think it will be sorted out. Eventually customers have to be serviced everywhere. Under the old Indian Telegraph Act of 1856 and 2023, right-of-way access, provision of service to customers is a must. Likewise, airport operators have also deployed a lot of equipment; they have to be compensated for their return. There will be some balance.”

Mittal said he was concerned about infrastructure contracts such as tunnels and metro systems being awarded to third parties. These operators pay large sums for franchises and then try to recover costs by charging high fees to telecom companies.

“What does this mean? Customers are suffering because we cannot pay disgusting tolls for tunnels and subways,” he said.

satcom

On Airtel’s satellite communication push through Eutelsat OneWeb, Mittal said that with the capacity allocated to India, the company has approximately ₹200 crore income.

“We will not compete with Starlink or Amazon LEO in the consumer market. Our entire constellation is designed for enterprise services such as aviation, maritime, defense, security needs of the nation,” he said, adding that the company is ready to offer the services once regulatory clearances are received.