Airtel said that it has received Rs 1,004.8 crore (net of tax) from Reliance Jio for the transfer.Telecommunications major Bharti Airtel concludes its trading deal to sell 800800 Mhz airwaves in three circles to RelianceJio Infocomm (Jio), markingthe first-ever deal between the two telecom rivals.
On Friday,in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges,Airtel announced that it has concluded itstrading agreement with Reliance Jio to transfer the Right to Use' of Airtel's 800 MHz spectrum in three circles to Jio.This means thattrading deal closure gives Jio the right to use Airtel's 800 Mhz spectrum in the Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, and Mumbai circles.As per the agreement, Airtel said that the company has received Rs 1,004.8 crore (net of tax) from Reliance Jio for the proposed transfer.
Additionally,Jio will assume the future liabilities of Rs.
469.3 crore relating to the spectrum.The deal has resulted in Reliance Jio - the biggest telecom operator in the country by subscriber base, and Airtel- the second largest, to work with each other, despite the rivalry between the twomajors,ever since Mukesh Ambani-ledJio enteredinto the telecom sector in 2016.Earlier this year, Airtel had signed a definitive trading deal to sell its 800 Mhz spectrum to Reliance Jio.
The company thenoffered to sell 3.75 Mhz of bandwidth in Andhra Pradesh, 1.25 Mhz in Delhi, and 2.5 Mhz in Mumbai, subject to regulatory and statutory approvals.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,'' saidGopal Vittal, MD - CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel in April 2021.On Friday, August 13, Bharti Airtel was last trading 1.56 per cent higher at Rs 633 on the BSE.