Bengaluru (Reuters) – Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS) said on Monday that it has prepaid 80.24 billion rupees ($976 million) to partly clear deferred liabilities for the spectrum it acquired in a 2015 auction.
The instalments, which are being paid to India’s telecom department for the spectrum, had an interest rate of 10%, the company said in an exchange filing.
Bharti Airtel had prepaid 88.15 billion rupees in March 2022 to clear dues of the airwaves it bought in 2015 and 155.19 billion rupees in December 2021 to fully repay dues for spectrum bought in 2014.
In India’s $19-billion 5G spectrum auction held in July-August last year, Bharti Airtel secured spectrum worth 430.84 billion rupees ($5.24 billion) out of which it has repaid 83.12 billion rupees.
