Reliance Jio inks deal with Airtel to expand spectrum footprint in Delhi, Mumbai, AP

Reliance Jio on Tuesday announced that it has inked a deal with Bharti Airtel. As a part of this agreement, Reliance Jio has acquired the right to use spectrum in the 800MHz band in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Mumbai telecom circles via spectrum trading.

The company said that while in Andhra Pradesh, the company has acquired the rights to use 3.75MHz in the 800MHz band spectrum, in Delhi and Mumbai this number stands at 1.25MHz and 2.50MHz respectively. This totals to 7.50MHz of the spectrum acquired.

Reliance Jio said that the aggregate value for the right to use this spectrum is ₹1,497 crores, which is inclusive of the present value of associated deferred payment liability of ₹459 crores.

The company also said that with this trading of right to use spectrum, Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited will have 2X15MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz band in Mumbai circle and 2X10MHz of spectrum in the 800MHz band in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi circles. This in turn will help in expanding the spectrum footprint of the company in these regions.

It is worth mentioning that the announcement comes shortly after the company announced that it had acquired the right to use spectrum in all 22 circles across India in a spectrum auction conducted by the government of India. While making the announcement, the company had also said that with the latest auction, the company now owned a total of 133.75MHz of the 800MHz band spectrum, 74.60MHz of the 1800MHz band spectrum and 280.00 of the 2300MHz band spectrum across the 22 telecom circles in the country.