Bharti Airtel has received nod from Competition Commission of India (CCI) for its takeover of the wireless business of Tata Teleservices (TTSL), thereby overcoming the first sof clearances that the merger needs.
‘The approval is without prejudice under Section 43 A of the competition,’ said the CCI statement seen by ET. While Airtel declined to comment, TTSL did not respond to an email on ET’s query.
In October, a debt-laden TTSL announced its plans to sell wireless mobile business to Bharti Airtel. The business along with its around 40 million customers will be transferred on a cash free, debt-free basis for some consideration, once all approvals are in.
After CCI’s nod, approvals are needed from the SEBI, National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), shareholders and depart of telecom (DOT).
Shares of Airtel closed at Rs 489.90 a share, up by 0.52% while that of TTSL’s listed entity Tata Teleservices Maharashtra closed at Rs 7.71 a piece, up by 4.90% on the BSE on Thursday.
As part of the October agreement, Airtel will absorb Tata consumer mobile business operations across the country in nineteen circles — 17 under TTSL and 2 under TTML. These circles represent bulk of India’s population and customer base.
Both boards of Bharti and Tata Sons, the parent company of TTSL had approved this alliance.
Besides customers, the merger will also enable Bharti Airtel to further bolster its strong spectrum foot-print with the addition of 178.5 MHz spectrum (of which 71.3 MHz is liberalised) in the 850, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands.
The transaction will also provide Bharti Airtel with an indefeasible right to use (IRU) for part of the existing fibre network of Tata.
TTSL is also exploring a combination of its enterprise business with Tata Communications and its retail fixed line and Broadband business with Tata Sky.
Source: Economic Times