The Batlle for 4G Supremacy Airtel Vs Reliance Jio

Airtel’s acquisition of Aircel’s broadband spectrum has clearly drawn the battle lines in the upcoming 4G war.

While Reliance Jio was the only operator with pan-India 4G spectrum until now, a series of acquisitions over the past few years has catapulted Airtel from a four-circle player to one with broadband spectrum across all the 22 circles in the country. 

Airtel had initially acquired four circles through the auction in 2010 for ₹3,314 crore.

 Reliance Jio had acquired 4G spectrum across all the circles for little over ₹12,800 crore.

 Then Airtel acquired four more circles from Qualcomm in 2013, for undisclosed amount, taking the 4G footprint to 8 circles. 

Qualcomm had paid ₹4,912 crore for the airwaves so it is unlikely that Airtel would have paid more than that. 

Earlier this month, Airtel bought spectrum in six more circles from Videocon for ₹4,428 crore, which was twice of what Videocon paid while buying through the auction. That’s because Videocon had spectrum in the comparatively more efficient 1800 MHz frequency band.

Airtel has now acquired eight circles more from Aircel almost at the same price as what the latter had paid for it in 2010. Aircel had acquired spectrum in the 2300 MHz for ₹3,438 crore and has sold it for ₹3,500 crore five years later