Govt gives telcos two-year relief from paying spectrum dues

In a major relief for debt-hit telcos, the Centre deferred spectrum auction payments due from the operators for the years 2020-2021 and 2021-22. These deferred amounts will be spread over the remaining installments to be paid by the telecom operators without any increase in the existing time period specified for making the instalment payments, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a late cabinet briefing on Wednesday.

The interest as stipulated while auctioning concerned spectrum will however be charged so that NPB of the payable amount is protected.

A telecom operator, opting for a two-year deferment will have to provide a guarantee of the revised annual installment payable for 2022-23.

The move to defer payments for 2020-21 and 2021-22 will give Rs 42,000 crore relief to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio, PTI reported.

Indian carriers owe the government nearly Rs 1.47 lakh crore in license fee (LF) and spectrum usage charges (SUC), the communications ministry told the Parliament Wednesday. Of the total amount, license fee comes to Rs 92,642 crore as of July this year, while SUC comes to Rs 55,054 crore as of October end this year.