Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio on Tuesday paid cumulatively over Rs 6,000 crore to the government towards deferred spectrum dues, while the Tatas said they have deposited another Rs 2,000 crore for ad hoc statutory liabilities.

The development came as the DoT prepared to send out fresh missives to the telcos questioning them about discrepancies in AGR dues assessed by the firms and its own calculations.

On Tuesday, Vodafone Idea CEO and MD Ravinder Takkar again met telecom secretary Anshu Prakash although he remained tightlipped about the meeting.

While crisis-ridden Vodafone Idea has paid about Rs 3,043 crore to the telecom department for deferred spectrum dues — essentially instalment payments that are made by telcos for airwaves bought in past auctions — Bharti Airtel submitted Rs 1,950 crore and Reliance Jio Rs 1,053 crore.

The payment made by Vodafone Idea in particular assumes significance as the company has been under financial pressure and is confronted with AGR (adjusted gross revenue) liabilities of over Rs 53,000 crore.

This is the last lot of payments that telcos will make towards deferred spectrum liabilities, as the Union cabinet had late last year approved a two-ear moratorium on such spectrum payment dues.

Separately, Tata Teleservices on Tuesday said it has made an on-account AGR payment of an additional Rs 2,000 crore to the department of telecom (DoT) on March 2 “in good faith and as a matter of abundant caution” towards licence fees, spectrum usage charges and applicable interest, penalty and interest on penalty.

“This on account payment is subject to reconciliation after the conclusion of the process of computation and verification being conducted by DoT spanning a period beginning from 2006-2007 and spread across 20 circles,” the company said in a statement.

According to sources, the DoT has decided to send fresh letters to telecom companies questioning them about the variation in AGR dues assessed by the firms themselves and its own calculations. This is because amounts paid by the telcos so far, even those who have announced full and final settlement, are woefully less than the DoT’s AGR estimates.

Sources said the letters would go out within a day or two to telecom companies.

Airtel recently submitted over Rs 18,000 crore to the DoT declaring it has made full and final settlement towards its AGR liabilities but the amount is far less than over Rs 35,000 crore that the government estimates the company owes it.