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India’s largest mobile operator says it has secured relevant approvals for spectrum deal, final two circles to close at a later date.
Bharti Airtel has closed the acquisition of 2.3-GHz spectrum from smaller rival Aircel in six of India’s telecoms circles, it announced in a stock exchange filing on Sunday.
India’s largest mobile operator agreed to acquire 20 MHz of 2.3-GHz frequencies in eight circles in April for a total of 35 billion rupees (€462 million). The frequencies will enable it to become a pan-India 4G operator, it noted at the time.
Bharti has since secured the relevant approvals and satisfied the conditions necessary to enable it to complete the transaction in six of the eight circles, it announced. The circles in question are Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam and North East.
The telco made no comment about the remaining two circles – Andhra Pradesh and Orissa – other than to say it will update the market when the deals close.
According to the Economic Times, which recently reported that India’s telecom ministry had cleared the spectrum transfer, Bharti was required to surrender 1.2 MHz of 1800-MHz spectrum in Orissa before it was granted permission for the deal, since it had breached the spectrum cap in that circle. As the paper pointed out, no player is permitted to hold more than 25% of the allocated airwaves in a single circle.
Aircel is involved in early consolidation in the Indian mobile market.
The company is in the process of brokering a deal with Reliance Communications (RCom) that could lead to a merger of their mobile operations. The companies are still holding exclusive talks, but many expect an announcement imminently.
A tie-up would create India’s third largest mobile operator by subscribers, with a market share of 18.4%, according to end-April figures from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Top dog Bharti Airtel had a 24.4% market share at the same date and second-placed Vodafone had 19.1%.
