Indian telecommunications service provider Bharti Airtel (Airtel) has prepaid Rs 3,626 crores to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), clearing all its liabilities for the spectrum it acquired in 2016. With this payment, Bharti Airtel has now prepaid all its spectrum dues that had interest costs higher than 8.65 percent, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
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Airtel's Latest Prepayment of Spectrum Dues
"Bharti Airtel (Airtel), one of India's leading telecommunications service providers, today said that it has prepaid Rs 3,626 crores to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) clearing all its liabilities for spectrum it had acquired in 2016," Airtel's statement in an exchange filing said.
Earlier Spectrum Payments in 2024
Earlier in September 2024, Airtel prepaid Rs 8,465 crores to the Department of Telecommunications for spectrum acquired in 2016. These liabilities carried an interest rate of 9.3 percent.
In June 2024, Airtel prepaid Rs 7,904 crores to the DoT, clearing all deferred liabilities related to spectrum acquired in the 2012 and 2015 auctions, which carried the highest interest rates of 9.75 percent and 10 percent, respectively.
At the start of the year, in January 2023, Airtel prepaid Rs 8,325 crores to the DoT as part prepayment of the deferred liabilities related to spectrum acquired in the 2015 auction, which had an interest cost of 10 percent.
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Airtel's Total Prepayments in 2024
With this, Airtel has prepaid a total of Rs 28,320 crores of spectrum liabilities in the calendar year 2024.
