Spectrum payment leeway

The government on Wednesday decided to provide a two-year moratorium to telecom companies for their pending spectrum auction instalments for the years 2020-21 and 2021-22.

The government, however, remained silent on incumbent telecom operators’ main concern — dues on adjusted gross revenues to paid within three months under a recent Supreme Court ruling.

The deferred auction amounts will be spread over the remaining instalments to be paid by the telecom operators without any increase in the existing time period specified for making the payments, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a late cabinet briefing.