Airtel pays advance of Rs 8,325 Cr for 2015 spectrum auction debts

The new spectrum sale is scheduled to take place in March 2024, according to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Bharti Airtel announced that it has improved its financial position by paying the Indian government's Department of Telecom (DoT) in advance of Rs 8,325 crores. This settles a portion of the company's delayed liabilities associated with spectrum that was purchased in the 2015 auction.

Earlier in July 2023, Bharti Airtel disclosed that it had paid back Rs 8,024 crores to the Department of Telecom (DoT), which was a partial prepayment of the deferred liabilities related to the spectrum that was purchased in the 2015 auction. The prepayment incurred a 10 percent interest rate.

In order to take advantage of the more affordable financing options that Airtel has access to, a significant prepayment on the spectrum acquisition liabilities has been made. The corporation decided to take advantage of the prepayment opportunity because the installments had a 10% interest rate.

The new spectrum sale is scheduled to take place in March 2024, according to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

Airtel officials have stated in the past that the company has plenty of mid-band spectrum, sufficient to provide capacity and coverage for its consumers, and does not need to purchase the costly 700 MHz band spectrum.

All that will be needed for the upcoming 5G spectrum is for Bharti Airtel to renew airwaves. This year, the telecom company is up for spectrum renewals in six circles.

India is leading the way in the deployment of 5G and other technological advancements, and In India, the only companies providing commercial 5G services at the moment are Airtel and Jio. Jio just announced that the rollout of 5G across the nation is finished ahead of schedule, while Airtel has already said that it will be completed by March 2024.