Mukesh Ambani-led RIL on Tuesday said its newly acquired internet arm Infotel has paid Rs 12,847.77 crore (Rs 128.477 billion) it bid for pan-India Broadband Wireless Access spectrum.
According to official sources at the Department of Telecom, the money was paid by the company on Tuesday, the last day for making the payment.
The sources said all the companies, barring BSNL, have made the payment so far.
Besides Infotel, Bharti Airtel paid Rs 3,314.36 crore (Rs 33.14 billion), Qualcomm Rs 4,912.54 crore (Rs 49.12 billion), MTNL Rs 4,533.97 crore (Rs 45.34 billion) and Aircel Rs 3,438.01 crore (Rs 34.38 billion). BSNL owes Rs 8,313.8 crore (Rs 83.14 billion) towards spectrum fee.
Infotel had emerged as the only pan-India winner for BWA spectrum by committing Rs Rs 12,847.77 crore in the auction that concluded on June 11.
Within hours of ending of the BWA auction, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries announced that it will acquire Infotel for Rs 4,800 crore (Rs 48 billion) in a deal that valued the Mahendra Nahata group internet service provider at about Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion).
As part of the deal RIL would infuse Rs 4,800 crore in the company as fresh equity capital to gain 95 per cent stake.
The acquisition marked Mukesh Ambani group's entry into telecom sector in less than a month of he and his younger brother Anil reaching a truce by ending a no-compete agreements to enable each other an opportunity to enter and invest in areas hitherto barred under a 2005 family settlement for division of Reliance empire.
The BWA auction, along with that of the 3G spectrum, exceeded the government's revenue collection estimates by raking in Rs 106,336 crore (Rs 1,063.36 billion) -- over three times the original projection.
While the BWA bidders committed over Rs 38,617 crore (Rs 386.27 billion), auction of 3G spectrum fetched the government Rs 67,719 crore (Rs 677.19 billion), which is expected to go a long way in helping the government manage its fiscal deficit and reduce borrowings.
