Airtel prepays Rs 8,000 crore spectrum dues

Telecom major Airtel has prepaid Rs 8,024 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) as part of its deferred liabilities for the spectrum acquired in the 2015 auction, the company said on Monday.

The Sunil Mittal-led telecom company informed that the said installments were paid with an interest of 10 per cent, leveraging much lower cost of financing available to it. “Bharti Airtel…has prepaid Rs 8,024 crore to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) towards part prepayment of deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in auction of year 2015,” the company said in a release.

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Airtel said it continues to focus on financial flexibility via its capital structure, including optimising the cost of financing and capitalising on all opportunities of significant interest savings, like the latest prepayment. The country’s second largest telecom provider rolled out 5G services in India in October 2022.