Reliance Jio and Airtel Eye RCom’s Unsold 850 Mhz Spectrum: Report

After acquiring most of Reliance Communications’ spectrum along with fiber and tower assets, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm is reportedly targeting the Anil Ambani-led telco’s remaining unsold airwaves in the 850 MHz band. Bharti Airtel, however, is also eyeing RCom’s spectrum in the 850-Mhz band, which is considered suitable band for 4G services, according to a report by the Economic Times.

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The Sunil Mittal-led telco may look at combining this spectrum with Tata Teleservices’s 850 MHz spectrum in some 18 circles. The merger between Airtel and Tata Teleservices’ mobility business is underway.

RCom’s unsold spectrum in the 850 Mhz band could be priced roughly at Rs3,500-4,000 crore, as per industry analysts.

Jio’s aspiration has gotten a push after the Telecom Commission’s approval to the sector regulator’s call for easing spectrum cap rules. “Jio possibly did not buy RCom’s entire spectrum holdings in the 850-MHz band last month as it could potentially have led to some spectrum cap breaches in the band,” a person was quoted as saying.

This spectrum, upon acquisition, would help Jio bolster its 4G network and to better compete with Airtel and the Idea-Vodafone combined entity.

The report said that the debt-ridden RCom has around 70 units of liberalised 850 MHz spectrum spread across 22 circles valid till July-September 2021. It added that the telecom operators might look at retaining a small part of its 850 MHz spectrum holdings for its enterprise customers.