Telcos pay balance upfront money for acquiring spectrum

Telecom service companies on Thursday paid the balance upfront payment of Rs 18,000 crore to the government to acquire spectrum in the auction held in March.

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Reliance Jio, Idea Cellular and Aircel had together paid about Rs 10,808 crore towards upfront payments till March 31, enabling the government to meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.1 per cent of gross domestic product for 2014-15. The operators had to pay an initial amount of Rs 28,872 crore to the government, with the rest in instalments after a moratorium of two years.

According to an official from the department of telecommunications, all the upfront money from operators has been received.

Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications deposited the amount on Wednesday, while Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel, Reliance Jio and Idea Cellular gave it on Thursday,  the last day for submitting the amount.

Idea’s upfront payment due was Rs 7,772.2 crore; Airtel’s Rs 7,832.2 crore; Vodafone’s Rs 6,817.23 crore; Reliance Jio’s Rs 2,591.76 crore; Tata Teleservices’ Rs 2,013.33 crore; RCom’s Rs 1,104.09 crore; and Aircel’s Rs 742.5 crore.

The spectrum auction started on March 4 and ended on March 25 with the government garnering revenues of Rs 1,09,875 crore.

According to the final results, Idea made total a commitment of Rs 30,306.98 crore followed by Airtel at Rs 29,130.20 crore, Vodafone Rs 29,959.74 crore, Reliance Jio Rs 10,077.53 crore, Reliance Communication Rs 4,299.13 crore, Tata Teleservices Rs 7,851.33 crore and Aircel Rs 2,250 crore.