Bharti Airtel has prepaid ₹3,626 crore to the Department of Telecom to clear all its liabilities for spectrum it had acquired in 2016, the company said on Thursday.

With this payment, Bharti Airtel has now prepaid all its spectrum dues that had interest costs higher than 8.65 per cent, the company said in a statement.

"Bharti Airtel has prepaid ₹3,626 crore to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) clearing all its liabilities for spectrum it had acquired in 2016," the statement said.

Airtel has prepaid a total of ₹28,320 crore of spectrum liabilities this calendar year, the company said.

The company prepaid ₹8,465 crore to the department of telecommunications in September. In 2016, Airtel bought 173.8 Mhz spectrum for ₹14,244 crore in the 1800, 2100 and 2300 Mhz bands through auction.

Telecom operators that had acquired radio frequencies in 2016 were required to pay off the dues through annual instalments over 12 years, including two years of moratorium for making a substantial upfront payment.

These efforts reflect Airtel's commitment to reducing its debt and managing high-interest payments efficiently. Airtel has consistently worked on prepaying its spectrum-related dues over the past few years, the company said.

In July 2023, the company prepaid ₹8,024 crore to the DoT, and in March 2022, it cleared ₹8,815 crore for airwaves bought in the 2015 auction. This was followed by a significant prepayment of ₹15,519 crore in December 2021, which cleared all dues related to spectrum purchases in 2014.

The payments are part of Airtel's strategy to manage its finances more effectively especially in light of the four-year moratorium on spectrum and adjusted gross revenue payments introduced in 2021, the company said.

This relief package, which also included reduced bank guarantees and the option to convert statutory dues into government equity, aimed to provide around ₹48,000 crore in cash flow relief to telcos.