DoT extends spectrum payment due date by a day to August 17

New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has extended the due date to August 17 for entities to make the payment for the spectrum acquired by them in the recently-concluded auctions. The due date has been extended by a day on account of bank holiday on August 16 in Mumbai and Maharashtra circles, according to an official note.

Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have acquired spectrum in the auction which concluded on August 1.

"In respect of demand note… on account of August 16, 2022 being a bank holiday in Mumbai and Maharashtra, the competent authority has decided to revise the due date of payment from August 16, 2022, to August 17, 2022," the DoT said in a note dated August 10.

The country's biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of bids, with Mukesh Ambani's Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with a Rs 87,946.93 crore bid.

Richest Indian Gautam Adani's group has placed bids worth Rs 211.86 crore for 400 MHz in a band that is not used for offering public telephony services.

Telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel made a successful bid of Rs 43,039.63 crore while Vodafone Idea Ltd bought spectrum for Rs 18,786.25 crore.

The winners have the option to pay the entire amount upfront or opt for payment in 20 equal annual installments.

If all spectrum winners opt for payment in instalments, then the government will get Rs 13,412.58 crore on the due date, with Reliance Jio accounting for Rs 7,864.78 crore. Such payments by Adani Data Networks will amount to Rs 18.94 crore while that by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea will be Rs 3,848.88 crore and Rs 1,679.98 crore, respectively.

Reliance Jio was the top bidder, offering a cumulative bid of Rs 87,946.93 crore for 24,740 MHz of airwaves across five bands capable of offering speeds about 10 times faster than 4G.

It acquired the coveted 700 MHz spectrum that can provide 6-10 kilometres of signal range with one tower and forms a good base for offering 5G services, in all 22 circles or zones in the country.

Adani group bought spectrum in the 26 GHz band, which is suitable for setting up a private network for end-to-end communication, in six regions — Gujarat, Mumbai, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.

Bharti Airtel bought a total of 19,867.8 MHz of spectrum across five bands but none in 700 MHz. Vodafone Idea acquired 6228 MHz of airwaves.

(With PTI inputs)

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