Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom operator by subscribers, has bought the remainder 26% stake in Augere Wireless, the company said in a filing to BSE.
"Bharti Airtel Ltd has now informed BSE that Airtel has acquired remaining balance paid-up share capital i.e. 26 per cent of Augere and with the said acquisition, Augere has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airtel," the telco filing read.
The telco, a few days back, informed the exchange about acquiring 74% in Augere, which holds 4G airwaves in Madhya Pradesh circle. It had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% equity stake in Augere Wireless Broadband India Pvt Ltd on August 26, 2015.
The deal size is estimated to be around Rs 150 crore, according to media reports. Augere Wireless possesses 20 Mhz of spectrum in the 2300 Mhz band in Madhya Pradesh telecom circle, which also includes Chhattisgarh state. It bought spectrum for Rs 124 66 crore in 2010 but has not rolled out services.
With the acquisition, Airtel now possesses 20 Mhz in the 2300 Mhz band across nine telecom circles in the country. It had also acquired Qualcomm's India unit which had won spectrum in four circles including, Delhi and Mumbai. Airtel directly won spectrum in just four service areas for Rs 3,314.36 crore in 2010.
