India's Bharti Airtel pays US$1 billion to partly clear 2016 spectrum dues
Its latest payment comes after India’s top court rejected a request by telecoms companies to recalculate the fees they owed the government
BHARTI Airtel made an early payment of about 84.7 billion rupees (S$1.3 billion) to the Indian government, partially settling its outstanding spectrum fees from a 2016 auction, the telecommunications carrier announced on Monday (Sep 30).
This is the first payment the country’s second-largest telecoms operator is making for the phone spectrum it acquired for US$2.1 billion in 2016. Phone spectrums are rights over airwaves bought for a particular time.
Indian telecoms operators have accumulated significant dues to the government over spectrum fees, following years of high-stakes auctions and competitive bidding for rights over airwaves.
Airtel, which did not disclose how much of the 2016 dues are pending after the payment, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It has fully prepaid its 2012 and 2015 spectrum fees during the first quarter of the current financial year.
Airtel’s latest payment comes weeks after India’s top court rejected a request by telecoms companies to recalculate the dues they owed the government.
Credit ratings provider ICRA has estimated that Airtel and its struggling rival Vodafone Idea owe about US$12 billion in past dues, including spectrum charges and licensing fees to the government.
The payment on Monday to the government’s telecoms department had an interest rate of 9.3 per cent, Airtel said. REUTERS
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