BHARTI AIRTEL ACQUIRES TELECOM BIZ OF TATAS

NEW DELHI : Bharti Airtel and Tata on Thursday announced that they have entered into an understanding to merge Consumer Mobile Businesses of Tata Teleservices Limited and Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Limited into Bharti Airtel.

The acquisition is subject to requisite regulatory approvals, the companies said in a statement without revealing the acquisition amount.

The merger is being done on a debt-free cash-free basis, except for Bharti Airtel assuming a small portion of the unpaid spectrum liability of Tata towards DoT, which is to be paid on a deferred basis.

As part of the agreement, Bharti Airtel will absorb Consumer Mobile Businesses of TTSL and TTML across the country in 19 circles, 17 under TTSL and two under TTML.

“This is a significant development towards further consolidation in the Indian mobile industry,” said Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal. “On completion, the proposed acquisition will undergo seamless integration, both on the customer as well as the network side, and further strengthen our market position in several key circles. The acquisition of additional spectrum made an attractive business proposition.”

The Bharti Board, which met on Thursday, has approved this transaction. The Boards of Tata Sons, TTSL and TTML, too, have given their approval.