Airtel informs DOT about acquisition of Tikona Digital Network

India's largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel has informed Department of Telecom (DOT) that it has fully acquired Tikona Digital Network's and now later is now wholly- owned arm of Airtel, ET reported.

We have initiated the process of merging Tikona Digital (the transferor company) with Bharti Airtel (the transferee company) as per the applicable law," Bharti Airtel's chief regulatory officer, Ravi Gandhi, wrote, in a letter, dated August 31, to the DoT. "

According to the report, Airtel is now looking for clearance from the ministry after getting approval from NCLT.

To recall, in March, Bharti Airtel had announced plans to buy Tikona Digital's 4G airwaves for Rs 1,600 crore and the idea is (for Airtel) to strengthen the overall portfolio and increase capacity to offer data.The deal will help get pan-India 4G coverage in 2,300 MHz bands and will help Airtel fill the gaps in 2,300 MHz.

The deal will allow Airtel to increase its capacity to offer data services to customers. The development comes just after Airtel's announced its plan to acquire Telenor India, which has operations in seven circles - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.

It will also enable Airtel to further bolster its strong spectrum footprint in these seven circles, and it will also give Airtel access to 44 million customers 43.4 MHz of spectrum in the 1,800MHz band and 20,000 base stations.

Infact Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, earlier said, "Airtel's continued focus on strengthening its 4G capabilities across multiple spectrum bands will be complemented with the BWA spectrum acquisition from Tikona. We believe that combining our capacities in TD-LTE and FD-LTE will further bolster our network, and help us provide unmatched high-speed wireless broadband experience to our customers. We remain committed to our vision of leading India's digital revolution by offering world-class and affordable telecom services through a robust spectrum portfolio spread across multiple bands."

Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2300 MHz band in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles.