Telecom operators, who won the spectrum during the recently concluded spectrum auction, have made Rs 10,791 crore upfront payment so far, reports The Economic Times. Telcos have till April 8 to shell out the remaining Rs 18,000 crore as part of the upfront payment, but that won't be taken into account in the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2015. Note that telcos are required to pay 25% of the winning bid in case of the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands and 33% of the winning bid in case of 2100 MHz and 1800 MHz bands as upfront payment within 10 days of close of bidding. They can pay the balance amount over 12 years: beginning with a moratorium period of 2 years and 10 yearly installments thereafter. The report mentions that Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular, Vodafone India, Reliance Jio and Tata Teleservices have made payments so far while Reliance Communications and Aircel are yet to make the payments. Besides these 7 telcos, Uninor had also participated in the 2015 spectrum auction, but didn't win any spectrum. The Indian government raised Rs 1,09,874 crore from the sale of 418.05 MHz of spectrum. The top five circles – Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka – accounted for 52% of the bids. This was 36.86% higher than than the Rs 80,277 crore the government had targeted from the auctions based on the reserve price set by it. The premium paid by telcos over the reserve price is likely to lead to an increase in…
