Bharti Airtel and Telenor India Merger Approved by DoT

The department of telecom (DoT) has approved Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Telenor India.

• The Telecom Department has transferred all licences belonging to Telenor along with its liabilities, to Bharti Airtel.
• The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had approved the proposed merger in March 2018.
• The Supreme Court had last week rejected DoT's petition for security deposit of around Rs 1,700 crore from the companies and directed it to approve the merger.
• The guarantee included Rs 1,499 crore for one-time spectrum charge for the radio waves allocated to Airtel without auction, and over Rs 200 crore for spectrum payment, which Telenor has to make.
• The transaction will boost Airtel’s 4G spectrum holdings, fortify its network capacity and augment its revenue.
• Telenor India runs operations in seven circles -- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.
• Airtel will gain 43.4 units of 4G spectrum from Telenor India across these cities.
• According to Bharti Airtel, the deal will help it consolidate its market leadership position with over 330 million customers.

Expected Questions

Question 1. Airtel is all set to acquire which telecom company?
Telenor

Question 2. Who is the founder of Airtel?
Sunil Bharti Mittal

Question 3. Which was the 1st company to set up its Payments Bank in India?
Bharti Airtel

Question 4. Which was the 1st Payments Bank of India?
Airtel Payments Bank

Question 5. When was Indian telecommunications Services Company Airtel formed?
1995