Dynamite News
Bharti Airtel acquires Tikona’s 4G business
The acquisition will narrow the gap between Bharti's pan-India 4G spectrum capacity and Vodafone-Idea's and Reliance Jio's.
New Delhi: In a bid to increase its 4G coverage across India, Bharti Airtel acquired Tikona Digital's 4G airwaves for Rs 1,600 crore to take on Reliance Jio Infocomm as well as the Vodafone-Idea Cellular.
Analysts at top global brokerage firms such as Morgan Stanley and CLSA believe that data rollout are likely to post a risk to capital expenditure and hit average revenue per user. It is best to stay put or lighten positions as they maintain underperform rating on the stock.
The acquisitions of Tikona will help Bharti Airtel to get access to Tikona's 4G airwaves in five circles — Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.
The Tikona deal, which includes taking on debt of Rs 500-600 crore, will see Airtel net 100 MHz of 4G spectrum in the 2300 MHz (4G) band equally split across the five circles, taking its total 4G holding to close to 880 MHz (including Telenor India), compared with 1,169 MHz for Jio and 1,089 MHz for the Vodafone-Idea combine.
The acquisition will narrow the gap between Bharti's pan-India 4G spectrum capacity and Vodafone-Idea's and Reliance Jio's. Bharti Airtel currently has more 3G/4G capable spectrum compared to Reliance Jio Infocomm.