Reliance Industries’ (RIL) telecom arm — Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) has entered into a definitive agreement with Bharti Airtel for acquisition of right to use spectrum in the 800MHz band in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai circles through spectrum trading. The trading agreement is in accordance with the Spectrum Trading Guidelines issued by the Department of Telecommunications and is subject to the requisite regulatory and statutory approvals. The aggregate value for the right to use this spectrum is Rs 1,497 crore, inclusive of present value of associated deferred payment liablity of Rs 459 crore, subject to any transaction related adjustments.
With this trading of right to use spectrum, company will have 2X15MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz band in Mumbai circle and 2X10MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz band in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi circles, thereby further consolidating its spectrum footprint in these circles. With the enhanced spectrum footprint, especially contiguous spectrum, and superior infrastructure deployed, company has further increased its network capacity.
Reliance Industries is India’s largest private sector company. The company’s activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and 4G digital services.