Reliefs for telco sector in India a boon for Airtel, says Singtel CFO

BHARTI Airtel, Singtel's Z74 joint-venture company, will now be in a better cash flow position to take advantage of emerging trends such as 5G and the home broadband market in India, said the group's chief financial officer Arthur Lang on Thursday.

This comes after the country's federal Cabinet approved a telecoms sector relief package on Wednesday. The package includes a redefinition of the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to count only telecoms revenue, significantly reducing the amount of AGR payments from telcos to the government going forward.

As the changes will only apply going forward, Airtel will still be on the hook for a further 259.76 billion rupees (S$4.75 billion) in AGR payments, after already paying 180 billion rupees. There will be a four-year deferral of these payments as well.