Telecom Ministry clear Rs 3500 crore Airtel-Aircel 4G spectrum deal

Telecom Ministry on Sunday cleared the 4G spectrum deal worth Rs 3500 crore between Bharti Airtel and Aircel.

As per the agreement, Airtel will acquire Aircel's rights to use 4G spectrum in eight telecom circles for Rs 3500 crore. But, in a regulatory filing, Bharti Airtel said that it has acquired only six circles to use 4G spectrum from Aircel.

The company's Vice President and Company Secretary, Rajendra Chopra said, "This is further to our intimation dated April 08, 2016 w.r.t. the acquisition of rights to use 20 MHz 2300 Band 4G TD spectrum from Aircel. We are pleased to share that the proposed transaction has successfully concluded for 6 out of 8 circles namely Tamil Nadu (including Chennai); Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam and North East, following the receipt of all necessary approvals and satisfying all the conditions (including conditions stated
in the Spectrum Trading Guidelines)".

No player can hold more than 25% of the total spectrum allocated in that particular area in a circle.

On Friday, a PTI report said that activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan wrote a letter to CBI and Enforcement Directorate, demanding "freezing" Aircel's spectrum deal with Airtel and RCom. 

Along with Airtel, Aircel and RCom are in talks to merge their mobile business into a combined entity taking 19.3% of total spectrum allocated to the industry. This deal with RCom will be highest in the country by an entity.

The reason behind Bhushan's allegation was that the deal will allow Aircel's parent company Maxis to escape and abscond with crores of money, the report said. 

Maxis Communication, a Malaysia-based firm holds 74% equity stake in Aircel and the rest is owned by Sindhya Securities and Investments Ltd.

As per the report, in August 2014, the CBI has filed a chargesheet against Aircel/Maxis, its Malaysian owner T Ananda Krishnan, Dayanidhi Maran, Kalanidhi Maran and four other firms--Maxis Communication Berhad, Astro All Asia Network PLC, Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd., South Asia Entertainment Holdings, Mauritius.