In  a  dispute  between  Department  of  Telecommunications and Telecom companies over the meaning of Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR),  the  Supreme court  has  given  a  judgment in  favor  of government, according to which telecom operators will have to pay additional dues of over Rs 1.3 lakh crore. Even the government has on various occasions admitted that the sector is indeed undergoing stress and needs support. Giving a ray of hope to the telecom companies, the government recently announced setting up of a Committee of Secretaries to examine the financial stress in the sector, and recommend measures to mitigate it. The move came a few days after the Supreme Court ruling. Government has also decided to merge the two loss- making telecom PSUs BSNL and MTNL as part of their revival package. A committee headed by Rajiv Gauba has been setup to help the struggling telecom sector. The Committee of Secretaries, headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, will have Secretaries of Ministries of Finance, Telecommunication and Law, among others as members and look at “all aspects” of the financial stress. It will also consider some of the long-standing demands of the industry, including granting a delay in payment of dues for spectrum for the next two financial years (2020-21 and 2021-22).