Bharti Airtel, along with its subsidiary Bharti Hexacom, has made a significant payment of Rs. 5,985 billion to the government, effectively settling “high-cost” obligations stemming from the 2024 spectrum auctions, the telecom enterprise announced on Wednesday.
Ranking as India’s second-largest telecom provider by user numbers, Airtel has been actively prepaying its high-interest spectrum liabilities owed to the government. This follows a series of competitive auctions and aggressive bidding for telecommunications airwaves by various operators in the country.
This recent payment has decreased Airtel’s spectrum-related debt to Rs. 52,000 crore, resulting in a reduced cost of debt down to 7.22 percent, according to the company’s statement.
Overall, Airtel’s early repayments have now reached a total of Rs. 66,665 crore. The company noted that it has settled these liabilities, which had interest rates of 10 percent, 9.75 percent, and 9.3 percent, approximately seven years ahead of their average maturity timelines.
The payment addressed obligations with an interest rate of 8.65 percent, although Airtel did not specify the original due date for this debt.
In contrast, rival Vodafone Idea is reporting a substantial obligation of approximately Rs. 1,42,000 crore in spectrum dues as of September 2024.
Additionally, another subsidiary of Airtel, Network i2i, has also redeemed $1 billion (around Rs. 8,556 crore) in perpetual debt securities, which are debt instruments without a fixed maturity. This action has lowered the company’s outstanding perpetual notes to $479 million (approximately Rs. 4,102 crore), according to the telecom firm.
Airtel’s shares experienced a slight increase of 0.5 percent on Wednesday following the announcement.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
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