Breather for telcos: 2-year moratorium on payment of spectrum dues

This comes soon after all three private telecom operators announced they were raising mobile phone tariff

The debt-ridden telecom industry, looking for financial relief from the government, has got a two-year moratorium in making payments for past spectrum auctions. 

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday decided to defer spectrum payments dues of the telcos for 2020-21 and 2021-22, a move that will offer an estimated Rs 42,000-crore overall relief to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio over the next two years. While Vodafone Idea has got the maximum relief of more than Rs 24,500 crore, Airtel and Jio’s moratorium is pegged at around Rs 11,000 crore and Rs 6,800 crore, respectively. The Cabinet decision is based on