Bharti Airtel has made an early payment of 84.65 billion rupees ($1.01 billion) to the Indian government, partially settling its outstanding spectrum fees from the 2016 auction, the telecom operator said on Monday.

This is the first payment the country’s second-largest telecom operator is making for phone spectrum it acquired for $2.13 billion (roughly Rs. 17,852 crore) in 2016. Phone spectrums are rights over the airwaves purchased for a fixed period of time.

India’s telecom operators have accumulated significant debt to the government for spectrum fees, following years of high-stakes auctions and competitive bidding for airtime rights.

Airtel, which did not disclose how much 2016 debt remains pending after payment, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

It fully prepaid its spectrum fees for 2012 and 2015 during the first quarter of the current financial year.

Airtel’s latest payment comes weeks after India’s Supreme Court rejected the telecom companies’ request to recalculate the dues owed to the government.

According to ICRA’s assessment, Airtel and its ailing rival Vodafone Idea owe roughly $12 billion (roughly Rs. 1,00,577 crore) in past dues, including spectrum fees and licensing fees to the government.

The payment to the government’s telecom department on Monday carried an interest rate of 9.3 percent, Airtel said.

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