SC paves way for Airtel to buy Telenor India

The Supreme Court has quashed the telecom department’s bid to make Bharti Airtel furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 1,499 crore as a pre-condition to approving the mobile phone operator’s buyout of Telenor India, paving the way for the deal to go through.

The apex court in its order on Wednesday dismissed the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) plea against Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal’s (TDSAT) April 12 order that directed DoT to clear Airtel’s buy out of the India arm of Norway’s Telenor, without requiring the Indian telco to furnish the bank guarantee.

“The Special Leave Petition is dismissed. Pending application(s), if any, stands disposed of accordingly,” Justices SK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan said in their order on Wednesday, a copy of which was seen by ET.


“The consequence is that the deal will go through immediately,” said a lawyer who was present during the proceedings in the apex court, which began last week when the government moved court.

Bharti Airtel did not comment on the development. “We will attempt to clear it (the deal) within this week,” a senior official in DoT said.

The telecom department was seeking a bank guarantee from Airtel equal to Rs 1,499 crore for one-time charges for spectrum (OTSC) allocated to the carrier without auctions, and over Rs 200 crore for deferred payment for airwaves owed by Telenor, before approving the deal. Airtel had moved TDSAT against the DoT’s demand of OTSC – having paid up the RS200-crore due on Telenor India’s airwaves - saying the issue of one-time spectrum charges was still in courts.

DoT had moved the Supreme Court on May 3 after the TDSAT ruled in Airtel’s favour. ET first reported the DoT’s possible move in its April 24 edition.

Sunil Mittal-led Airtel had already filed a caveat in the apex court, anticipating the department’s move, to ensure that it is allowed to become a party to the case once the hearing starts.

Post the deal approval, Airtel will buy Telenor India in a no-cash deal and take over its outstanding spectrum payments of Rs 1,650 crore. The deal will help it narrow the revenue and subscriber market share gap with the emerging Vodafone India-Idea Cellular combine, which will become the country’s largest phone company after their own merger.

Airtel will get Telenor India’s 4G airwaves in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East and West) and Assam, besides operational contracts, tower leases and about 40 million subscribers as of January. Telenor hasn’t started operations in Assam.

The Competition Commission of India, Securities & Exchange Board of India, the stock exchanges and National Company Law Tribunal have already approved the acquisition.