<p>Bengaluru: Bharti Airtel has made an early payment of Rs 8,465 crore ($1.01 billion) to the Indian government, partially settling its outstanding spectrum fees from a 2016 auction, the telecom carrier announced on Monday.</p><p>This is the first payment the country's second-largest telecom operator is making for the phone spectrum it acquired for $2.13 billion in 2016. Phone spectrums are rights over airwaves bought for a particular time.</p><p>Indian telecom operators have accumulated significant dues to the government over spectrum fees, following years of high-stakes auctions and competitive bidding for airwave rights.</p>.Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal writes to other telcos urging them to share data on spam calls: Report.<p>Airtel, which did not disclose how much of the 2016 dues are pending after the payment, did not immediately respond to a <em>Reuters</em> request for comment.</p><p>It has fully prepaid its 2012 and 2015 spectrum fees during the first quarter of the current financial year.</p><p>Airtel's latest payment comes weeks after India's top court rejected a request by telecom firms to recalculate the dues they owed the government.</p><p>As per an ICRA estimate, Airtel and its struggling rival Vodafone Idea owe roughly $12 billion in past dues, including spectrum charges and licensing fees to the government.</p><p>Monday's payment to the government's telecom department had an interest rate of 9.3%, Airtel said.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Bharti Airtel has made an early payment of Rs 8,465 crore ($1.01 billion) to the Indian government, partially settling its outstanding spectrum fees from a 2016 auction, the telecom carrier announced on Monday.</p><p>This is the first payment the country's second-largest telecom operator is making for the phone spectrum it acquired for $2.13 billion in 2016. Phone spectrums are rights over airwaves bought for a particular time.</p><p>Indian telecom operators have accumulated significant dues to the government over spectrum fees, following years of high-stakes auctions and competitive bidding for airwave rights.</p>.Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal writes to other telcos urging them to share data on spam calls: Report.<p>Airtel, which did not disclose how much of the 2016 dues are pending after the payment, did not immediately respond to a <em>Reuters</em> request for comment.</p><p>It has fully prepaid its 2012 and 2015 spectrum fees during the first quarter of the current financial year.</p><p>Airtel's latest payment comes weeks after India's top court rejected a request by telecom firms to recalculate the dues they owed the government.</p><p>As per an ICRA estimate, Airtel and its struggling rival Vodafone Idea owe roughly $12 billion in past dues, including spectrum charges and licensing fees to the government.</p><p>Monday's payment to the government's telecom department had an interest rate of 9.3%, Airtel said.</p>