TELCOS PAY RS 1.1K CR FOR SPECTRUM
Telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Jio and Vi have deposited around Rs 1,100 crore towards spectrum acquired in the recent auctions, officials in the know said.
The operators have paid the amount towards first-year installment. As per officials, Airtel has paid about Rs675 crore, Jio Rs97 crore and Vodafone Idea has paid around Rs346 crore for the spectrum acquired in the June auctions.
Amount paid by Airtel and Vodafone Idea includes Rs85 crore and Rs 30 crore respectively, paid by the telcos when they got spectrum allotment for the interim period before auction.
This comes after the department of telecommunications (DoT) on July 16 issued demand notices to the three telecom operators, asking them to pay for the spectrum purchased in the recently concluded auctions.
The telecom operators have been given time till July 26 to make the payments either in 20 equal yearly installments, or settle the amount in one go.
Telcos can also make a part payment upfront, which can be a multiple of complete years with a minimum of two years.
None of the operators, however, opted for the upfront payment. In the spectrum auction in June, the government sold 141 MHz spectrum worth Rs11,340.8 crore. Going by the 10,523 MHz spectrum on sale, only 1.3% got sold.
Bharti Airtel acquired the maximum airwaves, spending Rs6,857 crore. It bought a total of 97 MHz spectrum in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands.
Reliance Jio, which was expected to bid the maximum considering its earnest money deposit was the highest, turned out to be in the third position, even lower than Vodafone Idea. Jio spent Rs973 crore to buy just 14.4 MHz spectrum in the 1800 MHz band, whereas Vodafone Idea bought 30 MHz spectrum worth Rs 3,510 crore.
Based on the 20-year installment period, for Airtel the yearly outgo will be Rs674.18 crore. Vodafone Idea will have to pay an yearly amount of Rs 345.15 crore, whereas for Jio the spends would come around Rs 96 crore, according to demand notices sent by DoT.
2024-07-27T00:37:51Z dg43tfdfdgfd