Soon after the a global leader in broadband testing rated Airtel as India’s fastest mobile network of 2016, this telecom giant is now making a smart move to be ahead in the race. Bharti Airtel Ltd. is now planning to take over Tikona 4G airwave spectrum.
After the initial stages of negotiations, the Airtel’s acquisition deal with Tikona Digital Networks has now reached the final stage and is likely to close down to between Rs 1500- Rs 1700 crore.
Why is Airtel acquiring Tikona
Conceptualized to come at par with the immensely slashed down price of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, the acquisition plan aims at providing great 4G data services to its customers.
Airtel wants to spread its reach of 4G data services at locations where it has limited or no 4G waves in the 2,300 MHz band including Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West) and Rajasthan. Airtel also lacks 4G waves in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh with just 10 MHz each.
As published in The Livemint, with this takeover deal Airtel wants to strengthen its overall portfolio as 4G service provider pan-India. It also mentioned the deal of Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Tikona Digital Network will be in the range of Rs 800-1,000 crore but as the later is in debts, Airtel may seal the deal between Rs1,500-1,700 crores. The deal will be done in various portions.
Previous acquisition of Airtel that resulted in its favor
Earlier, this year, Airtel had announced to take over the Norway’s Telenor ASA operations for India to strengthen its service network in the 1,800 MHz band, which proved to be beneficial. The acquisition attracted additional of 44 million Airtel customers. It increased the company’s user base to 307 million at 20,000 locations across India with 43.4 MHz of spectrum in the 1,800MHz band.
About Tikona Digital Network
Tikona Digital Networks (TDN) is a Mumbai- based secured wireless broadband services provider. It offers services for domestic and commercial purposes in top 25 cities of India. Talking about its bandwidth, in the year 2010, Tikona acquired 20 megahertz (MHz) of 4G airwaves during a bid in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, UP (East) and UP (West). The company purchased 2,300 MHz band in Rs 1,058 crore.
Image: Economic Times
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