Nine telecom players, including BSNL, MTNL, Bharti, Vodafone and RCom, on Monday paid Rs 67,719 crore to the government towards 3G spectrum that was auctioned recently.
Bharti Airtel paid the highest Rs 12,295.46 crore for 3G spectrum (radio waves) in 13 circles, followed by Vodafone Rs 11,617.86 crore. State-owned BSNL also paid Rs 10,186.56 crore for the radio waves across India, except in Delhi and Mumbai.
Anil Ambani group firm RCom deposited Rs 8,585.04 crore. The company has bagged spectrum in 13 circles including in Delhi and Mumbai.
The government had earlier projected to collect Rs 35,000 crore from the sale of spectrum for 3G and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services put together.
But with nearly Rs 33,000 crore coming in as extra from 3G spectrum auction alone, the government is hoping to reduce its fiscal deficit to around five per cent of GDP from the estimated 5.5 per cent in the current financial year.
All the successful bidders would be getting the spectrum in September this year after it is vacated by the defence forces.