23 hours Ago
Vodafone Idea has not submitted a bank guarantee (BG) worth Rs 6,090.7 crore or made a cash payment of Rs 5,493.2 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for shortfall of the 2015 spectrum auction by the deadline, a development that may lead to some sort of action by the government.
The financially struggling company was scheduled to submit the BG or cash payment by March 10, 2025, but the company failed to do either at the end of office hours. "We will see what action can be taken in the coming couple of days," an official privy to the details told ET. The DoT has so far not granted any extension, the official added.
Advt The amount must be paid by Vodafone Idea for the shortfall in payments for spectrum use on a pro-rata basis as per the terms and conditions of the BG waiver announced by the DoT in December last year. The government had waived off BGs worth about Rs 33,000 crore for past spectrum auctions to all three private operators-Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel , and Vodafone Idea (Vi). The bulk of the relief, amounting to Rs 24,800 crore, applied to Vodafone Idea, a relative straggler.
The government has dispensed with the requirement of submission of BG for spectrum acquired in auctions held in 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2021, if the pro rata value of spectrum used from the date of allocation till the end of three months after the due date of payment of next instalment is less than the value of payment made by the telco on a net present value basis. While Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio did not need to submit any BG for past auctions as the payments made by them for auctions are greater than the pro rata use of spectrum, Vodafone Idea needed to submit BG or pay cash for the 2015 auction, where there was a one-time partial shortfall. A query sent to Vodafone Idea remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
By Kiran Rathee , ET Bureau Published On Mar 11, 2025 at 07:15 AM IST Telegram Facebook Copy Link Be the first one to comment. Comment Now COMMENTS Comment Now Read Comment (1) All Comments By commenting, you agree to the Prohibited Content Policy Post By commenting, you agree to the Prohibited Content Policy Post Find this Comment Offensive? Choose your reason below and click on the submit button. This will alert our moderators to take actions REASONS FOR REPORTING Foul Language Defamatory Inciting hatred against a certain community Out of Context / Spam Others Report Join the community of 2M+ industry professionals Subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights & analysis.
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