The government on Wednesday decided to provide a two-year moratorium to telecom companies for their pending spectrum auction instalments for the years 2020-21 and 2021-22.

The government, however, remained silent on incumbent telecom operators’ main concern — dues on adjusted gross revenues to paid within three months under a recent Supreme Court ruling.

The deferred auction amounts will be spread over the remaining instalments to be paid by the telecom operators without any increase in the existing time period specified for making the payments, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a late cabinet briefing.

The interest, as stipulated while auctioning the concerned spectrum will, however, be charged so that the net present value (NPV) of the payable amount is protected, she said.

The operators will continue to pay to securitise the next payable annual instalment by a financial bank guarantee of an amount equivalent to the instalment.

A telecom operator, opting for a two-year deferment, will have to provide a guarantee of the revised annual instalment payable for 2022-23.

The move to defer the payments will give a Rs 42,000-crore relief to Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio.

Sitharaman said the deferment of spectrum auction instalments will ease the cash outflow of the stressed players and facilitate the payment of statutory liabilities and interest on bank loans.

The decision for deferring the spectrum instalments will be implemented within a fortnight and the amendment to the licence shall be issued expeditiously, she added.

Telecom operators owe the government nearly Rs 1.47 lakh crore in licence fees and spectrum use charges.

, the communications ministry told the Parliament Wednesday. Of the total amount, license fee comes to Rs 92,642 crore as of July this year, while SUC comes to Rs 55,054 crore as of October end this year.

The move comes within days of Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea put together posted a net loss of Rs 74,000 crore for the fiscal second quarter. The telecom sector stress is driven primarily by intense competition from Reliance Jio.

This was further exacerbated by a recent Supreme Court ruling on AGR dues, adding another Rs 80,000 crore burden on incumbent telecom players Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

All the three major telecom firms - Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, and Reliance Jio — have indicated that they would hike mobile service tariffs from next month to viable levels.