New Delhi: Bharti Airtel on Friday announced the closure of its agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm to transfer the ‘right to use’ of Airtel’s 800 MHz spectrum in three circles to the Mukesh Ambani-led firm.
Airtel said in a statement that it has received Rs 1,04.8 crore (net of tax) from Jio for the proposed transfer.
In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs 469.3 crore related to spectrum, the statement said.
In a statement late in the evening, Jio said: “With this trading of right to access Spectrum, Rajil The 800 MHz band spectrum will be 2 x 15 MHz in Mumbai circle and 2 x 10 MHz each in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi circles, further enhancing the network experience of its customers.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) said it has paid a total of Rs 1,183.3 crore (including taxes) to Bharti Airtel and has assumed deferred payment liability with a net present value of Rs 469.3 crore.
Jio’s agreement with Airtel to buy spectrum in the 800 MHz band was announced in April this year and was the first such deal between the two telecom giants.
Air waves come in different bands that support different propagation characteristics for the transmission of voice and data. For example, lower bands such as 800 MHz and 900 MHz support good indoor coverage while higher bands such as 2300 MHz have good carrying capacity.
Airwaves are also sold in quantities measured as MHz. The spectrum auction held earlier this year had won bids worth over Rs 77,800 crore for 855.6 MHz of spectrum.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio spent the most in the auction, buying 488.35 MHz of spectrum in bands like 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz for over Rs 57,100 crore.
In the auction, Bharti Airtel won the rights to use the spectrum, which is valued at around Rs 18,700 crore. The spectrum bought in the auction for Vodafone Idea was valued at Rs 1,993.4 crore.
In the last auction, there were no buyers for spectrum in the 700 MHz and 2500 MHz bands.
According to the latest data available from telecom regulator TRAI, the Indian telecom market had painted a sharp contrast in May with Bharti Airtel losing 46.13 lakh wireless subscribers, while rival Reliance Jio added 35.54. lakh mobile the user.
Overall, the Indian mobile market shed 62.7 lakh users in May. In fact, both Airtel and Vodafone Idea had suffered massive customer losses in the month.
Airtel lost 46.13 lakh mobile users and ended the month with a subscriber base of 348 crore.
Vodafone Idea – which is currently in the grip of an existential crisis – saw its mobile subscriber base shrink from 42.8 lakh users to 277 million users in May.
Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla recently stepped down as the chairman of Vodafone Idea Limited, within two months of the offer to hand over the Aditya Birla Group’s stake in the debt-ridden telco to the government, in a bid to avert a crisis for the telecom company.
Vodafone Idea (Will) had an AGR liability of Rs 58,254 crore, of which the company has paid Rs 7,854.3 crore, while the outstanding is Rs 50,399.6 crore.
Airtel said in a statement that it has received Rs 1,04.8 crore (net of tax) from Jio for the proposed transfer.
In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs 469.3 crore related to spectrum, the statement said.
In a statement late in the evening, Jio said: “With this trading of right to access Spectrum, Rajil The 800 MHz band spectrum will be 2 x 15 MHz in Mumbai circle and 2 x 10 MHz each in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi circles, further enhancing the network experience of its customers.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) said it has paid a total of Rs 1,183.3 crore (including taxes) to Bharti Airtel and has assumed deferred payment liability with a net present value of Rs 469.3 crore.
Jio’s agreement with Airtel to buy spectrum in the 800 MHz band was announced in April this year and was the first such deal between the two telecom giants.
Air waves come in different bands that support different propagation characteristics for the transmission of voice and data. For example, lower bands such as 800 MHz and 900 MHz support good indoor coverage while higher bands such as 2300 MHz have good carrying capacity.
Airwaves are also sold in quantities measured as MHz. The spectrum auction held earlier this year had won bids worth over Rs 77,800 crore for 855.6 MHz of spectrum.
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio spent the most in the auction, buying 488.35 MHz of spectrum in bands like 800 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2300 MHz for over Rs 57,100 crore.
In the auction, Bharti Airtel won the rights to use the spectrum, which is valued at around Rs 18,700 crore. The spectrum bought in the auction for Vodafone Idea was valued at Rs 1,993.4 crore.
In the last auction, there were no buyers for spectrum in the 700 MHz and 2500 MHz bands.
According to the latest data available from telecom regulator TRAI, the Indian telecom market had painted a sharp contrast in May with Bharti Airtel losing 46.13 lakh wireless subscribers, while rival Reliance Jio added 35.54. lakh mobile the user.
Overall, the Indian mobile market shed 62.7 lakh users in May. In fact, both Airtel and Vodafone Idea had suffered massive customer losses in the month.
Airtel lost 46.13 lakh mobile users and ended the month with a subscriber base of 348 crore.
Vodafone Idea – which is currently in the grip of an existential crisis – saw its mobile subscriber base shrink from 42.8 lakh users to 277 million users in May.
Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla recently stepped down as the chairman of Vodafone Idea Limited, within two months of the offer to hand over the Aditya Birla Group’s stake in the debt-ridden telco to the government, in a bid to avert a crisis for the telecom company.
Vodafone Idea (Will) had an AGR liability of Rs 58,254 crore, of which the company has paid Rs 7,854.3 crore, while the outstanding is Rs 50,399.6 crore.
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