Current context: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given its approval to the merger of two tower companies, Indus Towers with Bharti Infratel.
a. BSNL
b. Reliance Jio
c. Vodafone Idea
d. Indus Towers
- The approval is flowed by meetings between Vodafone Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and top government officials after the Supreme Court directed telecom companies to immediately pay up dues related to adjusted gross revenue (AGR).
- The merger is approved between Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Infratel Ltd and Indus Towers Ltd, allowing Vodafone Idea Ltd to raise funds by divesting its stake in the latter.
- The combination of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will create a pan-India tower company with over 163,000 towers, operating across all 22 telecom service areas.
- The combined entity will be the largest tower company in the world outside China.
- Indus Towers is a three-way joint venture between Bharti Infratel, Vodafone Idea and UK-based Vodafone Group.
- Under the proposed merger, Bharti Airtel, which currently owns a 53.5% stake in Bharti Infratel, will own between 33.8% and 37.2% in the merged entity, while Vodafone Plc. will hold 26.7-29.4%.
- Airtel and Vodafone Plc. will have equal rights in the merged tower entity.
Question:
Q.1 The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given its approval to the merger of two tower companies, _______________ with Bharti Infratel.a. BSNL
b. Reliance Jio
c. Vodafone Idea
d. Indus Towers
