MoCIT clears Rs 35 billion spectrum trading deal between Bharti Airtel and Aircel

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT) is learnt to have cleared the Rs 35 billion spectrum trading deal between Bharti Airtel and Aircel. Airtel had entered into an agreement with Aircel to acquire the latter’s 4G spectrum in eight circles in April 2016. These circles are Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, West Bengal, Assam, the Northeast, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Meanwhile, as part of the approval process, Airtel was asked to surrender 1.2 MHz of spectrum in the Odisha circle as it breached the spectrum cap limit, after taking into account Aircel’s spectrum. As of now, Airtel has completed spectrum acquisition in seven circles.