New Delhi, March 25: Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Friday said it has paid Rs 8,815 crores to the Department of Telecom towards part prepayment of deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in auction of year 2015. The prepayment is for installments due in FY 2027 and FY 2028. “Over the last four months, Airtel has cleared Rs 24,334 crores of its deferred spectrum liabilities much ahead of scheduled maturities.
These liabilities carried an interest rate of 10 per cent and have been paid off through a combination of strong free cash generated by business, equity proceeds and significantly lower cost debt of similar tenor,” the company said in a statement. It further said that the company continues to focus on financial flexibility via its capital structure including optimising cost of financing and capitalising on all opportunities of significant interest saves like this prepayment. UNI
