Mumbai, Aug 17, 2022: The stocks of Bharti Airtel Ltd ended over 2.5 per cent up on Wednesday after the telecom major paid four years of spectrum dues upfront.

At close, the stock ended 2.68 per cent up at Rs 722.95 on the NSE.

Earlier on Wednesday, the telecom operator paid Rs 8,312.40 crore to the Department of Telecom (DoT) for 5G spectrum.

“The company believes that this upfront payment, coupled with the moratorium on spectrum dues and AGR related payments for four years, will free up future cash flows,” Bharti Airtel said in an exchange filing.

Over the last one year, Bharti Airtel has cleared Rs 24,333.7 crore of its deferred spectrum liabilities, much ahead of scheduled maturities.

“Airtel also has access to Rs 15,740 crore in capital from the rights issue, which is yet to be called,” said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, Bharti Airtel Ltd.