Ease of doing business at work, says Sunil Mittal as Airtel gets spectrum allocation letter

New Delhi: The founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal, stated on Thursday that Bharti Airtel received the letter allocating its share of the spectrum just hours after paying the Department of Telecom in advance. The Department of Telecom (DoT) has for the first time distributed a letter of spectrum allocation on the day of an upfront payment. “Airtel paid Rs 8,312.4 crore towards spectrum dues and was provided the allocation letter for the designated frequency bands within hours. E band allocation was given along with spectrum as promised. No Fuss, No Follow Up, No running around the corridors and No tall claims. This is ease of doing business at work in its full glory,” Mittal said in a statement. The Department of Telecom has received payment of around Rs 17,876 crore from service providers – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, Adani Data Networks and Vodafone Idea for spectrum they won in a recent auction. While all telecom operators have opted to make payments in 20 annual installments, Bharti Airtel paid Rs 8,312.4 crore equivalent to four annual installments. “In my over 30 years of first-hand experience with DoT, this is a first ! Business as it should be. Leadership at work-Right at the top and at the helm of telecom. What a Change ! Change that can transform this nation power its dreams to be a developed nation,” Mittal said. Airtel acquired 19,867.8 MHz spectrum by securing a pan-India footprint of 3.5 GHz and 26 GHz bands and select purchase of radio waves in low and mid-band spectrum. The country’s biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore worth of bids, with Mukesh Ambani’s Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with a Rs 87,946.93 crore bid. Reliance Jio has made payments of Rs 7,864.78 crore, Vodafone Idea Rs 1,679.98 crore and Adani Data Networks Rs 18.94 crore. Richest Indian Gautam Adani’s group has placed bids worth Rs 211.86 crore for 400 MHz in a band that is not used for offering public telephony services. Telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel made a successful bid of Rs 43,039.63 crore, while Vodafone Idea Ltd bought spectrum for Rs 18,786.25 crore. Disclaimer: Firstpost is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary. Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.