Stock Watch: Bharti Airtel shares in focus as company prepays Rs 8,465 crore spectrum dues

Shares of Bharti Airtel will be in focus on Tuesday after the company prepaid dues worth Rs 8,465 crore to the government, partially settling its outstanding spectrum fees from a 2016 auction, the telecom carrier announced on Monday.

“Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, today said that it has prepaid Rs 8,465 crore to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) against spectrum acquired in 2016. These liabilities carried an interest rate of 9.3%,” the company stated in its press release.

The company’s stock dropped 1.5% on Monday, closing at Rs 1,709.90.

This payment is the first made by the country’s second-largest telecom operator for the spectrum it acquired for $2.13 billion in 2016. Spectrum refers to the rights to use specific airwaves for a designated period.

Telecom operators have accrued substantial dues to the government for spectrum fees due to years of intense auctions and competitive bidding for airwave rights.

Airtel did not specify the remaining balance for its dues. However, the company had fully prepaid its spectrum fees from the 2012 and 2015 auctions in the first quarter of the current financial year.Airtel’s latest payment comes shortly after the Supreme Court denied a request from telecom firms to recalculate their outstanding dues to the government.According to an ICRA estimate, Airtel and its struggling competitor Vodafone Idea collectively owe around $12 billion in past dues, including spectrum charges and licensing fees. Airtel noted that Monday’s payment to the Department of Telecom carried an interest rate of 9.3%.

Shares of Bharti Airtel have delivered an 85% return over the last year, surging 41% in the last six months.