With this, Bharti Airtel will get the rights to use 2X5 MHz of spectrum in the 1800 band allocated to Videocon by the government on April 5, 2013. “The aforesaid Spectrum is valid upto December 18, 2032”.
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Bharti Airtel informed the bourses that the company has entered into a definitive agreement with Videocon Telecommunication (VTL) to acquire its 1,800 MHz spectrum for Rs 4,428 cr in six circles. After the deal, Bharti’s 4G coverage will extend to 19 out of 22 circles.
Mumbai: Idea Cellular Ltd and Videocon Telecommunications Ltd (VTL) have mutually agreed to terminate their Rs.3,310 crore spectrum deal for Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh telecom circles with immediate effect.
India has over 1 billion subscribers to mobile voice telephony services but only a third of those now use mobile Internet services.
The closing of the deal is subject to regulations, it said.
Bharti has paid 38 per cent more than the reserve price for 5 MHz of 1800 MHz spectrum as recommended by Trai for these six circles for auctions to be held in May-June.
Meanwhile, Idea said that it will continue to aggressively launch its high-speed mobile broadband 4G LTE services. Coincidentally today, Idea also launched its 4G LTE services in the 10th telecom service area of Maharashtra & Goa, from Nagpur city.
“Bharti Airtel’s plan to acquire 1800MHz spectrum in six Indian service areas, from smaller telco Videocon highlights Bharti’s need to boost its 4G spectrum amid pending competition from the entry of Reliance Jio, part of Reliance Industries, in second half of 2016”, said Fitch Ratings.
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The deal is the second since the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) issued guidelines for spectrum trading past year. Videocon shares closed 1.33% higher at 110.85 rupees, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.02% down.
