New Delhi, May 20 -- Vodafone Idea (Vi), Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices suffered a setback on Monday. India's Supreme Court dismissed their petitions to waive the interest, penalty and interest-on-penalty on their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, calling them "misconceived."

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Curative petitions by telecom operators against the apex court's 2019 judgement in the case had already been dismissed last year. This ends their last hope of relief, leaving the companies no option but to pay up.

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Not all of them are in a position to cough up such large sums. Vi had contended that it may be forced to f...