Bharti Airtel has prepaid Rs 3,626 crore to the Department of Telecom to clear all its liabilities for spectrum it had acquired in 2016, the company said on Thursday.
With this payment, Bharti Airtel has now prepaid all its spectrum dues that had interest costs higher than 8.65 per cent, the company said in a statement.
"Bharti Airtel has prepaid Rs 3,626 crore to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) clearing all its liabilities for spectrum it had acquired in 2016," the statement said.
Airtel has prepaid a total of Rs 28,320 crore of spectrum liabilities this calendar year, the company said.
The company added that following the latest payment, it has prepaid Rs 28,320 crore of spectrum dues in calendar 2024.
Bulk of the cash for the latest spectrum prepayment tranche was generated out of Airtel’s own cash flows, people aware of the matter said.
In the 2016 sale, Airtel had bought 173.8 units of airwaves in the 1800 MHz,2100 MHz and 2300 MHz bands for Rs 14,244 crore.
Airtel shares closed marginally lower (0.15%) at Rs 1599 Thursday on the BSE.
Airtel had initially prepaid Rs 8,465 crore to DoT towards spectrum acquired in the 2016 sale in its bid to lower interest costs and free up cash in September 2024.
In June 2024, it had prepaid another Rs 7,904 crore, clearing all its deferred liabilities relating to airwaves bought in the 2012 and 2015 auctions.
Airtel had also opted for a four-year moratorium on spectrum and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) payments which was estimated to give it around Rs 48,000 crore in cash flow relief over the time period, according to brokerage Nomura a few years back.
Recently, in June 2024 auction, Airtel was the top spectrum buyer, spending Rs 6,857 crore for 97 MHz of airwaves to renew permits in circles where they were expiring this year and fill gaps in some circles to increase coverage and capacity.
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