Government has received more than Rs.32,400 crore in upfront payments for telecom spectrum that was sold in the recently—held auction with five operators, including Bharti Airtel and newcomer Reliance Jio, paying Rs 19,981 crore today.
The Department of Telecom had set the deadline of October 20 for depositing the upfront payments for spectrum bought by operators in the auction that ended on October 6.
Vodafone and Tata Teleservices had made payments of Rs 10,139 crore and Rs 2,309 crore, respectively, yesterday. Five more operators, including Airtel and Reliance Jio, today deposited a total of 19,981 crore with DoT today, taking total payments to Rs.32,400 crore so far. “Total upfront payment received by the government for spectrum auction this year stands at over Rs 32,400 crore, higher than the upfront payment it received last year,” a source in the DoT said.
The operators were required to pay 50 per cent of the bid amount upfront for spectrum bought in 1800 Mhz, 2100 Mhz, 2300 Mhz, and 2500 Mhz bands. — PTI
