Voda Idea receives ₹26.8 crore notice from DoT over spectrum rollout; telco says operations remain unaffected

Published 2 August 2026 · finance

The Department of Telecommunications issued a notice to Vodafone Idea for the payment of ₹26.83 crore in liquidated damages, the telecom operator said in an

The Department of Telecommunications issued a notice to Vodafone Idea for the payment of ₹26.83 crore in liquidated damages, the telecom operator said in an exchange filing on Saturday. The demand relates to an alleged default in compliance of minimum rollout obligations in respect of spectrum allocated under auctions conducted in 2022. The company said it is reviewing the notice received on Friday (July 31) and evaluating its next steps. Details of the notice On the details of the notice, issued by the Telecom Department, Vodafone Idea (VIL) in a BSE filing said that this is for payment of "liquidated damages amounting to ₹26.83 crore for alleged default in compliance of minimum rollout obligations in respect of spectrum allocated under Spectrum Auction conducted in 2022".

The alleged violation pertains to network rollout obligation laid down in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) 2022, the bid document governing the spectrum auction. It needs to be complied with once the spectrum is assigned to the telecom operator. Also Read | Indian stock market registers broadest rally in last three out of four months Vodafone Idea, however, said the notice would not have any material effect on its financial position and its day-to-day operations continue to remain unaffected, according to the exchange filing. "The company is reviewing the notice and evaluating the next steps in this matter," the filing added.

Shares of Vodafone Idea closed at ₹13 on Friday, up 1.09%, before the public disclosure was issued by the company. The stock has declined more than 10% over the past month, though it remained in positive territory over the last six months, gaining around 20%, as per NSE data. India's first 5G spectrum auction The 2022 auction marked India’s first sale of 5G airwaves and was also the largest spectrum sale the country has every conducted. Held in August 2022, a total of 51.2 GHz of spectrum was sold across multiple bands, including 600 MHz, 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz, according to a news report by the Financial Express.

Vodafone Idea bought spectrum in a limited set of circles, trailing the volumes picked up by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. In the June 2024 auction, Vodafone Idea picked up 30 MHz of spectrum for ₹3,510.40 crore, against Bharti Airtel’s 97 MHz for ₹6,856.76 crore and Reliance Jio’s 14.4 MHz for ₹973.62 crore.