Airtel prepays Rs 8,465 crore to DoT against spectrum acquired in 2016

 Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has prepaid Rs 8,465 crore to the government against spectrum it acquired in 2016. These liabilities carried an interest rate of 9.3 per cent, the company said in a statement.

"Bharti Airtel, one of India's leading telecommunications service providers, today said that it has prepaid Rs 8,465 crore to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) against spectrum acquired in 2016," the statement said.

Airtel, the second largest telecom operator in India, had acquired 173.8MHz spectrum in 1800, 2100 and 2300MHz bands through 2016 spectrum auctions for Rs 14,244 crore.

It is pertinent to mention here that in June this year, Airtel said it prepaid Rs 7,904 crore to the Department of Telecom, in the process of clearing all deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in 2012 and 2015 through auction. The telco had acquired spectrum worth Rs 8.67 crore in 2012 and Rs 29,129 crore in the 2015 auction.

"Bharti Airtel...has prepaid Rs 7,904 crore to the Department of Telecom. With this, the company has fully prepaid all deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in the auction of the year 2012 and 2015, which were at the highest interest cost of 9.75 and 10 per cent, respectively," Airtel had said on June 14, this year.

Back on July 31, 2023, Airtel disclosed it prepaid Rs 8,024 crore to the government towards part prepayment of deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in the 2015 auction.

In the latest round of spectrum auctions held in June this year, Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Airtel emerged as the biggest bidder for radio waves used to transmit mobile phone voice and data signals, cornering about 60 per cent of the Rs 11,341 crore worth of spectrum sold in the auctions.

While Bharti Airtel bid and won airwaves worth Rs 6,856.76 crore, rival Mukesh Ambani 's Reliance Jio - the market leader - got Rs 973.62 crore worth of spectrum - the least in the three-corner contest. Vodafone Idea, the struggling telecom operator that got a fresh lease of life through India's biggest follow-on share sale this year, had bagged spectrum valued at Rs 3,510.4 crore in 2024 auction.

Airtel's latest prepayment move comes just days after the Supreme Court, earlier this month, dismissed a batch of pleas filed by companies, including Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, seeking correction of alleged computational errors in the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).