The shares of Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel gained over 2 per cent each on Wednesday after Reliance Industries’ arm, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, entered into a definitive agreement with Bharti Airtel for the acquisition of the right to use spectrum in the 800MHz band in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai circles through spectrum trading.

Big thaw: Airtel & RJio in ₹1,037.6-cr spectrum deal

At 10:58 am, Reliance Industries was trading at ₹2,037 on the BSE, up ₹53.35 or 2.69 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of ₹2,046.10. It opened at ₹1,992.20, which is also the day’s low, as against the previous close of ₹1,983.65. On the NSE, it was quoting ₹2,037.50, up ₹53.20 or 2.68 per cent.

Bharti Airtel was trading at ₹544.55 on the BSE, up ₹12.45 or 2.34 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of ₹544.85 and a low of ₹535.15. It had opened at ₹538.95 as against the previous close of ₹532.10. On the NSE, it was trading at ₹544.50, up ₹12.30 or 2.31 per cent.

Why Airtel-RJio deal augurs well for the telecom sector

In tune with guidelines

The Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio Infocomm has entered into a ₹1,037.6-crore spectrum trade with Bharti Airtel, the companies announced on Tuesday.

According to the agreement, Airtel will transfer its 800 MHz spectrum in Andhra Pradesh (3.75 MHz), Delhi (1.25 MHz) and Mumbai (2.50 MHz) to RJio.

The aggregate value for the right to use this spectrum is ₹1,497 crore. In addition to the upfront payment of ₹1,037.6 crore, RJio will take over Airtel’s future spectrum liabilities of ₹459 crore.

“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,” said Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (India and South Asia).

The trading agreement is in accordance with the Spectrum Trading Guidelines issued by the Department of Telecommunications and is subject to the requisite regulatory and statutory approvals.

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