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

The Sunil Mittal-led telco had acquired 173.8MHz airwaves across the 1800MHz, 2100MHz, and the 2300MHz bands for Rs 14,244 crore in the spectrum auction conducted in 2016 by the telecom department.

The latest prepayment of Rs 8,465 crore is among the biggest ever for Bharti Airtel and is being made to the Department of Telecommunications as a part of settling the high-cost deferred liabilities related to the spectrum acquired in 2016,

Bharti Airtel has prepaid Rs 8,465 crore to the Department of Telecom. With this, the company cleared its deferred dues against spectrum acquired in 2016.

Bharti Airtel has made an early payment of 84.65 billion rupees ($1.01 billion) to the Indian government, partially settling its outstanding spectrum fees from a 2016 auction, the telecom carrier announced on Monday.

Clearing high-cost deferred liabilities, telecom major Bharti Airtel (Airtel) has prepaid ₹8,465 crores against spectrum acquired in 2016. "Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) has prepaid ₹8,465 crores to the Department of Telecom (Government of India) against spectrum acquired in 2016.

Earlier in the year, Airtel prepaid ₹8,325 crore to the government to clear part of its deferred liabilities for the spectrum it acquired in 2015. In the 2015 auctions, Airtel acquired 111.6 MHz of spectrum for ₹29,