Tata Teleservices pays Rs 2300 cr to DoT for spectrum buys

Tata Teleservices -- which was engaged in a fierce battle to protect its spectrum holding in three circles, including the highly-lucrative Mumbai market -- today made a payment of about Rs 2,300 crore to Department of Telecom for airwaves it bought in the just-concluded auction.
A source told PTI that Tata Teleservices made payment to Department of Telecom today, opting for the deferred payment route, which involves part upfront payment, and balance payment in ten yearly instalments after a two-year moratorium.
Tata Teleservices bought airwaves worth Rs 4,619 crore in circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh in 1800MHz band, during spectrum auctions which concluded recently.

It was crucial for the Tata Group company to get spectrum in the highly-lucrative Mumbai and Maharashtra circles as its licence in these circles is set to expire next year.
In fact, in Mumbai where the base price for 1800 Mhz spectrum was set at about Rs 1,430 crore, the company ended up paying a heavy premium to protect its holding.
In a filing to BSE earlier this month, the company had said that "Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd (TTML) has succeeded in winning 5MHz spectrum in 1800 MHz band each in Mumbai and Maharashtra service areas with bid values of Rs 2,446 crore and Rs 1,590 crore, respectively".

In Andhra Pradesh circle, it acquired 2.4 MHz spectrum in the 1800 Mhz band.

The spectrum auction - touted to be India's largest sale of mobile airwaves - ended on October 6 after merely five days of bidding and garnered only Rs 65,789 crore, against an expectation of Rs 5.6 lakh crore, leaving nearly 60 per cent of airwaves, including premium 4G bands, unsold.
UK-based Vodafone's India unit was the most aggressive, taking home Rs 20,279 crore worth of spectrum. Bharti Airtel, the nation's biggest telecom company, bought Rs 14,244 crore worth of spectrum, while Idea Cellular put in Rs 12,798 crore of bids.

Newcomer Reliance Jio spent Rs 13,672 crore on spectrum buying. Other operators who bought spectrum included Tata Teleservices (about Rs 4619 crore), RCom (about Rs 65 crore) and Aircel (Rs 111 crore).