Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Monday said it has prepaid ₹8,465 crore to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), against spectrum acquired in 2016.

These liabilities carried an interest rate of 9.3 per cent, the company said in a statement adding that it has paid the said amount “to clear high-cost deferred liabilities for spectrum acquired in 2016”.

In June this year, the company had prepaid ₹7,904 crore to the DoT to clear the deferred liabilities for spectrum acquired in 2012 and 2015, and before that in January this year, it had prepaid ₹8,325 crore to clear part of its deferred liabilities for the spectrum it acquired in 2015.

With these, the company said it has fully prepaid all its outstanding spectrum liabilities for the years 2012 and 2015, which were at the highest interest cost of 9.75 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively. This has reduced the significant interest expenses.

Significant growth in Q1

Airtel’s first quarter (Q1) results declared in August, showcased a significant growth with more than double in its consolidated net profit at ₹4,160 crore, compared with ₹1,613 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Consolidated revenue from operations also grew 2.8 per cent year-on-year to ₹38,506 crore during the quarter in review, compared with ₹37,440 crore in the April-June quarter last year.

It had also reported an improved average revenue per user (ARPU) of ₹211, compared with ₹200 in the same period a year ago, driven by sustained focus on acquiring quality customers.

In July, the company had announced tariff hikes in both prepaid and post-paid plans, with a price hike ranging between 11 per cent and 21 per cent in prepaid, while for post-paid, the price hike ranged from 10 per cent to 20 per cent.