Reliance Jio buys Airtel's 800MHz spectrum in 3 circles for Rs 1,497 crore
Published: Apr 06, 2021
By TIOLCORPLAWS News Service
NEW DELHI, APR 6, 2021: RELIANCE Jio on Tuesday said it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire the right to use Bharti Airtel's 800 MHz spectrum in Andhra Pradesh (3.75 MHz), Delhi (1.25 MHz) and Mumbai (2.50 MHz) for around Rs. 1497 crore.
The agreement, subject to statutory approvals, will see Jio pay Rs. 1,037.6 crore for the transfer. In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs. 459 crore relating to the spectrum.
Through this, Mr Sunil Mittal's Airtel hopes to "unlock value from spectrum that was underutilised," said the company.
Jio said the deal was in accordance with the Spectrum Trading Guidelines issued by the Department of Telecommunications.
It will have now have '2x15MHz' of spectrum in the 800MHz band in Mumbai circle and '2x10MHz' of spectrum in the 800MHz 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, Reliance Jio has further increased its network capacity," it said.
