NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel said that it has entered into an agreement with Reliance Jio Infocomm to transfer the ‘Right to Use’ of its 800 MHz spectrum in Andhra Pradesh (3.75 MHz), Delhi (1.25 MHz) and Mumbai (2.50 MHz) to Jio.
Through this agreement, which is subject to statutory approvals, Airtel will receive a consideration of Rs 1037.6 crores from Jio for the proposed transfer.
In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs 459 crores relating to the spectrum.
Jio said that the trading agreement is in accordance with the Spectrum Trading Guidelines issued by the Department of Telecommunications. “The aggregate value for the right to use this spectrum is Rs 1,497 crores, inclusive of present value of associated deferred payment liability of Rs 459 crores, subject to any transaction related adjustments.”
With this trading of right to use spectrum, Jio will 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, RJIL has further increased its network capacity,” Jio said in a statement
“The sale of the 800 MHz blocks in these three circles has enabled us to unlock value from spectrum that was unutilised. This is aligned to our overall network strategy,” Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said in a statement.
