Reliance Jio buys Bharti Airtel’s 800 MHz spectrum in Andhra, Delhi and Mumbai circles
07 Apr 2021
Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) on Tuesday said it has entered into a definitive agreement with Bharti Airtel Limited for acquisition of right to use spectrum in the 800 MHz band in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai circles through spectrum trading.
Jio signed an agreement with Airtel to aacquire some of the latter’s spectrum in the 800 MHz band in the three telecom circles, totally valued at Rs1,497 crore.
As part of the agreement, Airtel would receive Rs1,038 crore from Jio for the proposed transfer. In addition, Jio will also assume the future liabilities of Rs459 crore relating to the spectrum.
“The aggregate value for the right to use this spectrum is Rs1,497 crore, inclusive of present value of associated deferred payment liability of Rs459 crore, subject to any transaction-related adjustments,” Jio stated in a release.
The trading agreement is in accordance with the Spectrum Trading Guidelines issued by the Department of Telecommunications and is subject to the requisite regulatory and statutory approvals.
The Rs1,459-crore aggregate value for the right to use this spectrum is inclusive of present value of associated deferred payment liability of Rs459 crore, subject to any transaction related adjustments, the release added.
With this trading of right to use spectrum, RJIL will have 2X15MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz band in Mumbai circle and 2X10 MHz of spectrum in the 800 MHz band in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi circles, thereby further consolidating its spectrum footprint in these circles. With the enhanced spectrum footprint, especially contiguous spectrum, and superior infrastructure deployed, RJIL has further increased its network capacity.
The transaction is subject to the requisite regulatory and statutory approvals.