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

NEW DELHI: The The Competition Commission of India has approved Bharti Airtel's acquisition of Videocon Telecom and Aircel Ltd's airwaves, according to details on the antitrust watchdog’s website.

The approvals for Airtel’s spectrum trading pacts with Videocon Telecom and Aircel, which were announced in March and April 2016, respectively, were sought in May 2017. Bharti Airtel had acquired rights to use Aircel's 4G spectrum in the 2300 Mhz band in eight telecom circles — Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam, North East, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh — in a Rs 3,500-crore deal.

It breached spectrum cap in Orissa circle, for which Airtel had to surrender 1.2 Mhz airwaves worth around Rs 38 crore. A month earlier, India’s No. 1 telco had entered into a trading deal with Videocon to buy its airwaves in 1800 Mhz band in the circles of Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, UP (East) and UP (West) for Rs 4,428 crore.