Airtel, the country's leading telco, said that it has completed the acquisition of Videocon’s spectrum in six circles for Rs 4428 crore. Both the companies, in a joint statement, said that all necessary approvals including the conditions stated in the spectrum trading guidelines have been met with.
Before the Airtel deal, Idea Cellular, which is India's third largest telco, was in touch with Videocon for a similar deal. However, Idea had terminated its spectrum trading agreement with Videocon Telecom for the latter's Gujarat and UP West circles, signed for Rs 3310 crore.
Airtel and Videocon two had entered into a deal to trade airwaves in the 1800 Mhz band across six circles of Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UP (East) and UP (West) for Rs 4,428 crore. Airtel acquired 2X5 Mhz of airwaves in the 1800 Mhz band.
Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has been on a drive to acquire 4G spectrum. After buying Qualcomm's airwaves in four circles, Airtel purchased Augere Wireless, which owned 4G airwaves in the Chhattisgarh-Madhya Pradesh circle. Both the deals netted Airtel airwaves in the 2300 MHz band and raised its holdings in that particular band to nine, including four of its own.
