(Reuters) -Indian telecom carrier Bharti Airtel has made an early payment of 36.26 billion rupees ($426.4 million) to the Indian government, the company said on Thursday, settling all its liabilities for the spectrum acquired in 2016.
India’s No. 2 wireless carrier had paid 84.65 billion rupees towards the liabilities in September.
Indian telecom operators owe the government significant spectrum fees, following years of high-stakes auctions and competitive bidding for airwave rights.
Bharti Airtel has paid a total of 283.2 billion rupees of spectrum liabilities in 2024, it said.
The company, which did not disclose its overall spectrum liabilities, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
It has already paid its 2012 and 2015 spectrum fees.
($1 = 85.0430 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)
