A green signal has been given by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in Bharti Airtel- Tata Teleservices (TTSL) merger. The telecom department officially has approved the merger of TTSL with Airtel on a condition that the Sunil Mittal led company offers a bank guarantee of Rs.7,200 crore, said a government official.
As per the official, Manoj Sinha, telecom minister has approved the merger conditionally on 9 April. Following the approval given by the minister, the DoT has asked Bharti Airtel to present the subjected bank guarantee, said the official.
To get the merger on record, Airtel will have to submit around Rs.6,000 crore which covers one time spectrum charges and Rs.1,200 crore towards the spectrum that shall be received from TTSL.
There’s also a minute amount of dues which needs to be taken care of by TTSL before the deal is executed, said another official.
The merger deal will allow Airtel to take in the Tata Group’s consumer mobile business operations across 19 telecom circles. Besides, the proposed agreement will help Airtel absorb an added 178.5MHz spectrum across 3 bands which are used widely for 4G. Furthermore, the agreement will also transfer all the assets and customers of TTSL to Airtel.