The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has issued demand notices to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) and Reliance Jio, calling on them to make payments for 5G airwaves that were bought in the recent 5G spectrum auction by July 26, 2024.
The telcos have been given the option to make the payments in 20 equal annual instalments (EMIs). Alternately, they can pay the entire sum upfront or make a part upfront payment (which can be a multiple of complete years with a minimum of two years).
In addition, the telcos are expected to take a call on the payment option deferred instalments or full upfront payments in coming days.
As per DoT, if the telcos choose to make payments in 20 equal instalments, Airtel’s first tranche comes to Rs 6.7417 billion, while that of Vi and Jio come to Rs 3.4515 billion and Rs 957.2 million respectively.
