Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman of telecom major Bharti Enterprises, said on Thursday that after Bharti Airtel paid Rs 8,312.4 crore to the Department of Telecom (DoT) towards 5G spectrum dues, the company was provided with the allocation letter within hours.
"No fuss, no follow-up, no running around the corridors and no tall claims. This is the ease of doing business at work in its full glory. This is a first in my 30 years of first-hand experience with the DoT. Business as it should be," Mittal said.
"Leadership at work-right at the top and the helm of telecom. What a change! Change that can transform this nation — power its dreams to be a developed nation," Mittal added.
He said that, as promised, E band allocation was provided along with spectrum
Ashwini Vaishnaw, minister of communications and electronics and information technology, said in a tweet: "Spectrum assignment letter issued. Requesting telecom service providers to prepare for 5G launch."
While other operators opted to make payments in 20 annual instalments, Bharti Airtel paid Rs 8,312.4 crore, equivalent to four annual instalments. Reliance Jio has paid Rs 7,864.78 crore, while Vodafone Idea has paid Rs 1,679.98 crore, and Adani Data Networks paid Rs 18.94 crore.
The total payments received by the telecom department stood at Rs 17,855 crore.
Airtel acquired 19,867.8 MHz spectrum by securing a pan-India footprint of 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands in the 5G auction held earlier. According to a statement given earlier, the telecom firm has also cleared Rs 24,333.7 crore of its deferred spectrum liabilities in the last year.
Also Read: Bharti Airtel settles 5G spectrum instalments for four years ahead of rollout of services
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First Published: Aug 18, 2022 10:47 AM IST
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