Idea Cellular, Videocon terminate agreement for spectrum

Our Bureau Updated - January 20, 2018 at 04:27 AM.

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Idea Cellular and Videocon Telecommunications have mutually agreed to terminate an earlier spectrum trading agreement worth Rs 3,310 crore with "immediate effect". The companies, however, did not specify any reason for the cancellation.

The companies had no filed any joint intimation for spectrum trading with the licensor, the Department of Telecommunications. Also, there is no cost implication to Idea on termination of the agreement, Idea Cellular said in a statement.

On November 24, Idea Cellular had entered into an agreement to acquire spectrum held by Videocon Telecommunications in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh (west) for ₹3,310 crore.

Under the agreement, Idea Cellular has the right to use the spectrum till December 2032. The Aditya Birla Group company was paying almost 2.5 times of what Videocon paid for the spectrum. Videocon had paid a total of ₹1,329 crore in these two circles - Gujarat (₹900 crore) and UP-West (₹429 crore) - in the November 2012 auctions.

Meanwhile, Idea Cellular said it continues to aggressively launch its high speed mobile broadband 4G LTE services. On Wednesday, Idea launched 4G LTE services in the 10th telecom service area of Maharashtra & Goa.

rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in

Published on March 16, 2016 17:46