Vodafone India is expected to acquire Telenor India‘s spectrum holdings and operations in a deal that could be worth over $1 billion. Sources differ over whether the deal would involve only acquiring Telenor’s Indian spectrum holdings or the company as well.
Spectrum is the main draw of the acquisition, but if Vodafone does buy Telenor India’s operations too, it may involve taking on Telenor India’s significant debt and try to retain the operator’s customers in key service areas, reports telecomasia.net. Vodafone currently only possess 4G spectrum in five of India’s 22 telecoms circles, whereas rival Bharti Airtel and the soon-to-launch Reliance Jio have pan-India holdings and Idea Cellular has 4G spectrum in 10 circles. Acquiring Telenor’s Indian spectrum would help even the playing field. Vodafone told reporters from the Economic Times, “To grow our business, we continually evaluate opportunities, such as spectrum sharing, trading, M&A and spectrum purchase in auction.”
Telenor India has spectrum in seven highly populated licence areas but runs services in only six circles; however, its customer base remains relatively low after eight years of operation.
