The telecom industry in India has been a whirlwind after the launch of Reliance Jio, by Mukesh Ambani. All the major telecom companies Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, and others have been trying to keep up with Jio and retain customers in their individual networks. Amidst this war, Bharti Airtel has announced on Thursday that they are planning on expanding the data.
They announced that the company has acquired Tikona Digital Network’s 4G business which includes Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum. The company has acquired 350 sites in five circles. This deal is yet to gain regulatory approvals. With Tikona earning Rs. 1,600 crores, the Bharti Airtel is readying itself to face Reliance Jio by providing stronger data and increasing customer addition in the fastest way.
Airtel’s total revenue from data in India alone is 22.8 percent of the global value. In Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East,) Uttar Pradesh (West,) Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan at the 2,300 Mhz band, Tikona has a 20 Mhz spectrum. After the closure of the transaction, Airtel plans to introduce high speed 4G services in these new spectrums. Gujarat, UP (East, West) and Himachal Pradesh will be acquired by Bharti Airtel, whereas the Rajasthan circle will be acquired by Airtel’s subsidiary Bharti Hexacom.
Brokerage firm Philip Capital in a release said “Bharti Airtel has Tikona wireless valuing the company at Rs. 16 billion (Rs. 1,600 crore).” Airtel in a statement said that this acquisition will fill the BWA spectrum gaps in the 2,300 Mhz band in UP (East, West) and Rajasthan and create an all India footprint for Airtel. Also, this deal will reduce the Airtel’s SUC by 25 basis points, which will mean Rs. 1,000 crores for the company.
