Telecom major Vodafone Idea has completed the Rs 1,701 crore “requisite payment” to the Department of Telecommunications towards the 5G spectrum auction held last year.

In a stock exchange filing on Saturday, the debt-strapped company said the first instalment payment was “in accordance with the terms of Notice Inviting Applications dated 15th June, 2022”. The delayed instalment also includes interest.

Vodafone Idea was supposed to pay around Rs 1,680 crore to the DoT by 17 August. It had availed a “grace period” of 30 days to make this payment. Failure to pay dues would have led to the revocation of its bank guarantees.

Last month, Vodafone Idea had informed the bourses that its promoter group had assured it would provide financial support of up to Rs 2,000 crore in case the company needed funds. However, according to The Hindu BusinessLine, the company was able to pay the dues without the promoters’ help.

Vodafone Idea is due for another payment deadline at the end of this month. It owes the DoT close to Rs 700 crore towards spectrum usage charges, licence fees and other statutory dues and had cleared 10% of the dues for the April-June quarter earlier this month, The Times of India had reported.

The beleaguered telco has mounting debts and liabilities and has been losing subscribers. Its gross debt stands at around Rs 2.1 lakh crore.

In February, the government became the single largest shareholder in the loss-making business after it chose to convert the telco’s Rs 16,133 crore worth of dues into a 33.4% stake.

As it has been divesting its stake in public sector companies, the government’s stake in Vodafone Idea was seen by many as a means to set back the nascent bankruptcy process—which could be an embarrassment for it as it faces elections next year. We have written about this in detail: Government’s 33% stake may not save Vodafone Idea.