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Informist, Friday, Aug. 7, 2026

 

--SC notice to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea on govt's spectrum demand order 

--CONTEXT: HC nixed govt spectrum demand vs Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea 

--SC refuses to stay HC order in Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea spectrum case 

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Friday refused to stay the Bombay High Court's order that had set aside the government's demand orders seeking payment of one-time spectrum charge from Bharti Airtel Ltd., Vodafone Idea Ltd. and others for the years 2008 to 2012. The apex court issued notices to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and others on the government's appeal against the high court order. The government in its petition had argued that the case had financial implications of spectrum demand exceeding INR 250 billion against all the telecom companies.

 

The bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice R. Mahedevan said that they will consider whether to tag the current case with a similar pending issue in the apex court. The top court is also hearing appeals from telecom companies wherein the Madras High Court had upheld the spectrum demands against the them.

 

On Jun. 8, the Bombay High Court had said that the government was not able to justify the decision and its action of levying one-time spectrum charge retrospectively upon Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea. Consequently, bank guarantees, if any, given by the telecom company will be returned by the government, said the high court. 

 

Bharti Airtel's annual report for the year 2025 had disclosed a contingent liability towards one time spectrum charge of INR 66 billion. Its total liability towards one-time spectrum charge rose to INR 165 billion as of March end 2025, including the interest of INR 99.54 billion. Vodafone Idea's exposure was at INR 75.81 billion, as per its annual report. However, it was not clear whether the amount on Vodafone Idea included the interest. The amount could increase based on the interest calculations.

 

The government argued that the one-time spectrum charge has been implemented to ensure equality and a level playing field to all telecom operators without any discrimination. Therefore, there is no illegality, arbitrariness, or violation of licence and provisions of law in imposing one-time spectrum charges and demands raised in this regard, said the government. The one-time spectrum charge is strictly in accordance with the provisions in the licence agreement between the parties and the mandate of law, said the government.

 

The Bombay High Court has erred in holding that the enhanced revenue share payable by the licensees constituted complete consideration for spectrum allocated and therefore, no additional charge could be levied, said the government. The high court failed to appreciate that revenue share under the Unified Access Service Licence and one-time spectrum charges operate in distinct fields, said the government. While revenue share is a recurring payment linked to spectrum usage and calculated as a percentage of the adjusted gross revenue, one-time spectrum charge is intended to capture the economic value of additional spectrum held beyond the prescribed threshold, said the government. The high court failed to appreciate that spectrum being a material resource of the public, of which the petitioner is a trustee, the amounts to be recovered as one-time spectrum charge were to be utilised for the common good, said the government.

 

Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea had moved the high court, being aggrieved by imposition of the one-time spectrum charge by the government in the year 2012 for spectrum held above 6.2 MHz from the year 2008 onwards. The petitioners said that the government had no power to impose such a one-time spectrum charge and that too, retrospectively. The petitioners said that neither was such a source of power found in the relevant statutory provision, being Section 4 of the Telegraph Act, 1885 nor was it found in the licence agreements for allocation and use of spectrum executed between the petitioners and the government from time to time.

 

The government had said that the dispute raised by the telecom companies in the latter’s petitions fell within the domain of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal. The government said that in repeated communications, the telecom companies were served notice that they would be required to pay charge towards allocation of spectrum and therefore, they couldn't claim that they were caught by surprise or that the charge was being levied retrospectively. 

 

At 1246 IST, the shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd. were up 0.3% at INR 1,953.10 on the National Stock Exchange, and those of Vodafone Idea Ltd. were up 1.4% at INR 12.80.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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