Bharti Airtel prepays additional ₹5,985 crore of high-cost spectrum dues to DoT

Bharti Airtel and subsidiary Bharti Hexacom have prepaid an additional ₹5,985 crore of high-cost spectrum liabilities to the government, the telco said on Wednesday.

Airtel's subsidiary Network i2i has also voluntarily called and redeemed $1 billion in 'perpetual debt securities'.

"Bharti Airtel and its subsidiary Bharti Hexacom have prepaid an additional ₹5,985 crore to the Department of Telecom thereby fully prepaying the high-cost interest liabilities of 8.65% pertaining to the 2024 auctions," the Sunil Mittal-led company said.

Network i2i Ltd has also voluntarily called and redeemed $1 billion in 'Perpetual Notes'.

"Underscoring its commitment to financial prudence, operational efficiency, and its strong capital position, Airtel continues to prepay its high-cost spectrum liabilities, lowering its debt and cost of debt," it said.

Airtel has now prepaid ₹25,981 crore of high-cost spectrum liabilities for the current 2025 fiscal year and has cumulatively prepaid spectrum liabilities of ₹66,665 crore till now.

The average interest rate on the cumulative liabilities prepaid was about 9.74%.

The telco had earlier fully prepaid liabilities that had interest rates of 10%, 9.75% and 9.3%. These prepayments have been made about seven years ahead of their average residual maturities.

The prepayments have resulted in Airtel clearing ₹1,16,405 crore of scheduled instalments that would have otherwise been payable on their respective dates over the original tenure of the liabilities.

"Consequent to these payments, Airtel has also lowered its cost of debt on spectrum liabilities to an average of approximately 7.22% on the residual ₹52,000 crore of spectrum liabilities (excluding AGR liabilities)," according to the company.

The residual spectrum liabilities carry a long repayment profile payable in annual instalments until FY 2042.

Additionally, Airtel's subsidiary Network i2i Limited has voluntarily exercised a call option and redeemed $1 billion in $perpetual notes issued in FY 2020.

"Perpetual notes otherwise had no contracted maturity and carried an interest rate of 5.65%. Post the redemption of $1 billion in perpetual notes, Airtel will have approximately $479 million of perpetual notes outstanding, which were issued during FY2021. These notes can be called in FY2026," Airtel said.

Bharti Airtel shares on Wednesday settled 0.15% up at ₹1,733.10 apiece on the NSE. The company's market capitalisation stands at ₹9,88,231.87 crore.