Idea, Videocon terminate spectrum trading agreement in two circles

NEW DELHI: Aditya Birla group-led Idea Cellular and Videocon Telecommunications Limited  (VTL) today mutually agreed to terminate their earlier agreement regarding ‘Transfer of Right to Use 1800 MHz Spectrum’ in two service areas with immediate effect.

On 24th November, 2015, the Board of Directors of Idea had empowered the company to enter into an acquisition agreement for right to use 1800 MHz spectrum of VTL, in the telecom service areas of Gujarat and U.P. (West) for an aggregate consideration of Rs.3,310 crores (approx.), pursuant to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Guidelines for Trading of Access Spectrum by Access Service Providers dated 12th October, 2015.

No joint intimation of this Transfer Agreement for Right to Use Spectrum under Spectrum Trading Guidelines was filed with DoT, by the parties. Also, there is no cost implication to Idea on termination of the aforesaid agreement.

Meanwhile, Idea continues to aggressively launch its high speed mobile broadband 4G LTE services. Coincidentally today, Idea also launched its 4G LTE services in the 10th telecom service area of Maharashtra & Goa, from Nagpur city.

In a short span of 3 months, Idea has expanded its world class 4G LTE services in telecom service areas of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra & Goa, North East (NESA), Odisha, Punjab and Tamil Nadu, now covering over 350 cities and state capitals, including major towns like Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Ernakulam, Indore, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Bhopal, Imphal, Jalandhar, Raipur, Visakhapatnam etc.

Idea owns 3G and/or 4G spectrum in 17 service areas representing 87% of its revenue (4G coverage 61% of revenue), and now offers high speed mobile broadband services (3G & 4G) in around 4,500 towns and 60,000 villages, enabling over 350 million Indian population to experience Idea’s world class high speed mobile internet.

The company remains on track to launch 4G LTE services in 750 key towns across these 10 telecom circles latest by end of June 2016.