The Telecom Dispute Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has ruled that revenue from non-core sources such as rent, profit on sale of fixed assets, dividend, interest and miscellaneous income must be included while computing a carrier's adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

Telecom companies pay about 8 per cent of their AGR to the government as licence fee and also a percentage as spectrum usage charge (SUC).

The ruling is likely to adversely affect the telecom companies as the inclusion of non-telecom revenue under AGR would force operators to pay more to the government.