With DoT’s final nod, Telenor customers now in Airtel’s spectrum

On Monday, the merger between Bharti Airtel and Telenor India got the final approval from the Department of Telecom.

Bharti Airtel will now begin integrating Telenor’s operations across seven circles — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.

Airtel had announced the acquisition of Telenor’s spectrum in February last year. All existing customers of Telenor India will now become a part of India’s largest mobile network and will get world-class services – high speed data, voice and content — at affordable prices, Airtel said.

The company will add 5MHz to 7.2 MHz of Telenor’s spectrum (1800 band) in each of the seven circles. The addition of this fresh spectrum (total of 43.4 MHz) will enable Airtel to further expand network capacity across these markets.

“We welcome all Telenor customers to the Airtel family and look forward to delighting them with best-in-class products. The acquisition consolidates our market leadership, further strengthens our network portfolio in key markets, and will add to shareholder value,” Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (India & South Asia), said.

To expand network

With this latest development, Airtel plans to step up investment and expand its high speed data network across the country over the coming year as part of Project Leap, its network transformation programme, the company said.

The DoT in a statement said, “All the liabilities of DoT against Telenor including the liabilities if quashed licences/ spectrum granted to the Unitech Group Companies as approved by the NCLT in its order dated March 8, pertaining to the relevant scheme of amalgamation stand transferred to Airtel.”

It said effective date of transfer of all the assets and liabilities pertaining to the Department will be as per approved by the NCLT order and the same will be intimated to the DoT by resultant entity (Airtel) immediately after filing the NCLT order with RoC.

Complying with TDSAT order

However, the DoT also pointed out that the bank guarantees will have to be kept alive as per the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal’s (TDSAT) interim order passed in petition. “Further, both parties should comply with the outcome/ judgment of TDSAT in the main petition and dispose of appeals, if any, thereof,” it said.

The Supreme Court had last week rejected DoT’s petition for security deposit of around ₹1,700 crore from the companies and directed it to approve the merger. The guarantee included ₹1,499 crore for one-time spectrum charge for the radiowaves allocated to Airtel without auction, and over ₹200 crore for spectrum payment, which Telenor has to make.

“I welcome today’s closing of the transaction. We are pleased with our agreement with Airtel and finding a long term solution to our India business has been a priority for us. I would like to thank the Telenor India team for their relentless and unwavering efforts over the years. To our customers, I would like to thank you for your loyalty and trust in our services,” says Sigve Brekke, Chief Executive Officer of Telenor Group.

Shares of Airtel closed at ₹381.50 on the BSE on Monday, down 1.09 per cent from the previous close.