The Centre has received over ₹1,100 crore as the first instalment of the June spectrum auction, with all three telcos — Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea — opting for the 20-year payment option.
The government sold 141 MHz of spectrum, generating ₹11,340.8 crore.
Reliance Jio paid just over ₹95.7 crore, Vodafone Idea paid approximately ₹315 crore, and Bharti Airtel deposited ₹595 crore, according to sources. Both Airtel and Vodafone Idea had previously paid ₹85 crore and ₹30 crore, respectively, for interim spectrum usage, which was adjusted in the first installment.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) had sent demand notices to all three private telecom operators for their spectrum purchases and asked them to pay the amount in 10 days.
Airtel reallocation
Bharti Airtel on Monday said it has started reallocating its existent mid-band spectrum to accommodate the exponential growth in 5G traffic.
“With more customers moving to the 5G network, Airtel is re-farming its mid-band spectrum to expand 5G services on its 1800, 2100, 2300 MHz bands across the country,” it said in a statement.
Airtel said its pilot on the SA and NSA switch in Rewari, Chennai and Bhubaneswar showed encouraging results.
