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Bharti Airtel to Take 100% Ownership of Telenor India

Bharti Airtel to Take 100% Ownership of Telenor India

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest wireless operator with over 269 million subscribers, has signed an agreement to take a full ownership of Telenor India, including its spectrum, licenses, operations, all employees of the company as well as its customer base of 44 million.

Airtel will acquire Telenor’s operations in seven circles – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (West), Uttar Pradesh (East), and Assam. It will also enable Airtel to further bolster its strong spectrum footprint in these seven circles, with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band

As part of the agreement, Airtel will take over outstanding spectrum payments and other operational contracts, including tower lease. The transaction is subject to requisite regulatory approvals, including approvals from the Department of Telecommunications in India (DoT) and the Competition Commission of India. The exposure to claims related to the period Telenor owned the business, will remain with Telenor.

Telenor announced its entry into India in 2008. In 2016, Telenor India’s revenues were NOK 6.0 billion and the operating cash flow was NOK -0.4 billion. Telenor services are commercially available in six telecom circles in India (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar & Jharkhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, UP East and UP West), and the company also has spectrum in Assam.

Sigve Brekke, CEO of Telenor Group
The decision to exit India has not been taken lightly. After thorough consideration, it is our view that the significant investments needed to secure Telenor India’s future business on a standalone basis would not have given an acceptable level of return.

Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and CEO, Bharti Airtel 
On completion, the proposed acquisition will undergo seamless integration, both on the customer as well as the network side, and further strengthen our market position considerably in several key circles. The customers of Telenor India will be able to enjoy India’s widest and fastest voice & data network, and a range of Airtel’s world-class products and services.

Author

Ray is a news editor at The Fast Mode, bringing with him more than 10 years of experience in the wireless industry.

For tips and feedback, email Ray at ray.sharma(at)thefastmode.com, or reach him on LinkedIn @raysharma10, Facebook @1RaySharma

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