Bharti Airtel has made an early payment of 36.26 billion rupees ($426.4 million) to the Indian government, clearing its outstanding spectrum fees from a 2016 auction, the telecom carrier said on Thursday.

Bharti Airtel has prepaid Rs 3,626 crore to the Department of Telecom to clear all its liabilities for spectrum it had acquired in 2016, the company said on Thursday.

A Bharti Airtel office building is pictured in Gurugram. File | Photo Credit: Reuters

(Reuters) -Indian telecom carrier Bharti Airtel has made an early payment of 36.26 billion rupees ($426.4 million) to the Indian government, the company said on Thursday, settling all its liabilities for the spectrum acquired in 2016.

With this payment, Bharti Airtel has now prepaid all its spectrum dues that had interest costs higher than 8.65 per cent, the company said in a statement.

Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, announced today that it has made a prepayment of Rs 3,626 crore to the Department of Telecom (Government of India), fully clearing its liabilities for the spectrum acquired in the 2016 auction.

Bharti Airtel paid off ₹3,626 crore in dues to the Department of Telecom to clear all its liabilities for spectrum acquired in 2016, according to the company's BSE filing.