DoT gets Rs 17,876 crore from telecom operators as upfront payment for 5G spectrum

The Department of Telecom has received upfront payment of around Rs 17,876 crore from Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks and Vodafone Idea for spectrum they won in a recent auction, according to sources.

While all telecom operators have opted to make payments in 20 annual instalments, Bharti Airtel has paid Rs 8,312.4 crore equivalent to four annual instalments.

Reliance Jio has made payment of Rs 7,864.78 crore, Vodafone Idea Rs 1,679.98 crore and Adani Data Networks Rs 18.94 crore. "DoT has received a total payment of around Rs 17,876 crore. Only Bharti Airtel has paid for four annual instalments at one go," an official source said.

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.