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On May 24, 2012, Bharti Airtel and Qualcomm announced an agreement under which Bharti had acquired 49 per cent interest in Qualcomm AP's India entities with licences to offer 4G data services in four circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala.
The last date for applying for both 3G and BWA spectrum is today. Auction for BWA spectrum will begin on April 11.
Qualcomm India got licences for four markets, including Delhi and Mumbai, apart from Kerala and Haryana.
The government is likely to release spectrum on September one this year after it gets vacated by the defence forces.
According to senior officials in the department of telecommunication 20 Mhz of spectrum has been given to the four firms -- Infotel, Bharti, Aircel and Tikona Digital, which have licences to offer services.
When, recently, Bharti Airtel announced a Rs 21,000 crore rights issue, analysts pointed out that its structure was similar to that of Reliance's issue in June 2020. One similarity is that shareholders in both companies have to pay only 25 per cent of the money on application. The rest is to be paid in two tranches. In Bharti Airtel's case, it is within 36 months; in Reliance Jio's, it is within 17 months.
Bharti Airtel on Thursday said it has acquired 49 per cent stake in Qualcomm's broadband wireless access (BWA) business in India for USD 165 million (about Rs 922 crore).
The DoT has issued long-awaited migration guidelines which pave way for Internet service providers (ISP) like Reliance Jio Infocomm and Tikona, that have BWA spectrum, to offer mobile telephony service by paying an extra fee of Rs 1,658.57 crore (Rs 16.58 billion).
Bharti Airtel customers can now avail its 4G data plans starting from Rs 450, down 31 per cent from Rs 650 earlier in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune and Chandigarh circles.
The JV between the two has won BWA spectrum in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala.
For 2100-MHz, 2300-MHz and 2500-MHz bands across circles; aim to offer these with 3G and 4G in February
With this acquisition, Airtel will be second company, after Reliance Jio, in the country to have pan-India presence in 2300 Mhz band
Airtel announced complete acquisition of WBSPL in October last year for an estimated Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).
The uniform SUC, if implemented as per recommendations made by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, will provide relief for mobile operators such as Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, but will increase rates for broadband wireless access spectrum holders like RJIL.
Telecom regulator Trai on Monday recommended about 39 per cent reduction in the reserve or floor price for the sale of spectrum for mobile services, including the latest 5G offering, as it looked to match revenue expectations with the industry's paying capacity. With large swathes of spectrum remaining unsold in the last two auctions, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended to the government for selling airwaves in all existing bands of 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz, 2500 MHz and new slots of 600 MHz, 3300-3670 MHz and 24.25-28.5 GHz. It has suggested a lower reserve price for all bands, compared to the prices proposed in the previous recommendations in 2018.
Telecom Commission approves high base price of Rs 11,485 cr per Mhz for 700-Mhz frequency; no decision taken on proposed standard spectrum usage charges of 4.5%
The auction will continue on Tuesday as there is still some spectrum left.
The auction will continue on Monday.
The spectrum auction has already generated record amount.
Telecom companies have put in bids worth Rs 58,332 crore (Rs 583.32 billion) in spectrum auction at the end of 49 rounds on the 7th day of bidding on Monday.
Spectrum auction kitty dips to Rs 1.05 lakh crore.
There are 29 licences in 18 service areas which will expire in 2015-16.
43 rounds of bidding has taken place.
Telecom operators continued to place bids for 800 MHz and 1800 MHz bands.
Telecom companies put in bids worth a total of about Rs 45,000 crore (Rs 450 billion) on the second day of the auction on Tuesday, with premium 900 Mhz band in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata witnessing continuing demand.
The amount generated so far is about 86 per cent of what the 3G auction fetched in 2010.
While the draft M&A policy for the telecom sector has been revised a few times over the past few months, DoT has not made any major changes to guidelines.
Telecom companies that bought spectrum in the 2G auction of November last year would lose around Rs 4,000 crore
Spectrum auction took off on Wednesday from Rs 58,980.29 crore (Rs 589.80 billion) mark with demand for the premium 900 Mhz band seemingly tapering off at the end of 56 rounds.
Market breadth continued to remain strong, with 1899 gainers and 674 losers on the BSEs.
