Bharti Airtel's deals with Videocon, Aircel approved: CCI

The Competition Commission has given approval for telecom major Bharti Airtel's spectrum deals with Videocon and Aircel announced last year.

In a tweet today, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it has cleared Bharti Airtel's acquisition of Aircel's "right to use of spectrum in 2300 MHz band".

In another tweet, the regulator said that it "approves acquisition by Airtel of Videocon's Right to Use of Spectrum in 1800 MHz band".

.@CCI_India approves acquisition by Airtel of Aircel’s Right to Use of Spectrum in 2300 MHz band

— CCI (@CCI_India) June 30, 2017

.@CCI_India approves acquisition by Airtel of Videocon’s Right to Use of Spectrum in 1800 MHz band

— CCI (@CCI_India) June 30, 2017

Under the deal, Bharti Airtel was to acquire the spectrum of Videocon Telecommunications Ltd (VTL) in six circles. In this regard, both had entered into a definitive agreement last March.

This deal, valued at around Rs 3,500 crore was also announced last year. Transactions beyond a certain threshold require nod from the CCI, which keeps a tab on unfair business practices across sectors.

The regulator has also given its green signal for the combination of "human API business of SeQuent and Strides in Solara Active Pharma Sciences Ltd".

Under the transaction -- which involves Strides Shasun, SeQuent Scientific and Solara Active Pharma Sciences -- the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) businesses of Strides and SeQuent would be demerged.