On Thursday, the Bharti Airtel founder and Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal lauded the PM Modi led-government for ease of doing business after the company received an allocation letter for the designated 5G spectrum within hours of payment of the dues.
“No Fuss, No Follow Up, No running around the corridors, and No tall claims. This is the ease of doing business at work in its full glory”, Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said in an official statement released on August 18. He also appreciated the Department of Telecommunications which comes under the Ministry of Communications and said that the current government had made business easy.
Ready to lead India into the next generation of connectivity. #Airtel5G pic.twitter.com/ucwy5teIzv
— airtel India (@airtelindia) August 18, 2022
“In my over 30 years of first-hand experience with DOT, this is a first! Business as it should be. Leadership at work-Right at the top and the helm of telecom. What a change, change that can transform this nation – power its dreams to be a developed nation,” he added.
The statement revealed that the company paid Rs 8,312.4 crore to the Department of Telecom (DoT) towards dues for spectrum acquired in the recently concluded 5G auctions. The company said that it paid four years of 2022 5G spectrum dues upfront. Mittal praised the Modi-led govt and said, “Leadership at work- Right at the top and at the helm of telecom. What a change! Change that can transform this nation- power its dreams to be a developed nation”.
Reports mention that the Department of Telecommunications has received an upfront payment of around Rs 17,876 crore from companies including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks, and Vodafone Idea for the 5G spectrum they won in a recent auction.
While all telecom providers have chosen to pay in 20 yearly instalments, Bharti Airtel has paid in four annual instalments of Rs 8,312.4 crore. Reliance Jio has paid Rs 7,864.78 crore, Vodafone Idea has paid Rs 1,679.98 crore, while Adani Data Networks has paid Rs 18.94 crore. While the first three are telecom operators, Adani Data will use the spectrum to offer B2B solutions. The company said that it will use its own 5G network for its data centres and for the supper app it is building to support various kinds of businesses.
The country’s largest telecom spectrum auction ever attracted a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore in bids, with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio capturing nearly half of all airwaves offered with an Rs 87,946.93 crore offer. Gautam Adani’s business has offered Rs 211.86 crore for 400 MHz in a spectrum that is not utilized for providing public telephone services. Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel successfully bid Rs 43,039.63 crore, while Vodafone Idea Ltd purchased spectrum for Rs 18,786.25 crore.
