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India's largest telecom operator Airtel said on Wednesday it has acquired Augere Wireless Broadband India. The company holds 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in the telecom circle of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The company has not disclosed the price it paid for the acquisition.
"The company has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100 per cent equity stake in Augere, which holds BWA (4G) spectrum in the telecom circle of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh," Airtel said. But it had been reported that Airtel was in talks to buy the internet provider for Rs 150 crore.
After the acquisition, Airtel said it could now offer 4G services in nine circles. Earlier this month, the company had rolled out 4G services across eight circles for which it has licenses and said 296 cities will be covered under its licences. With the new acquisition, Airtel will offer 4G services in 300 cities and towns, it said.
Airtel has been ramping up its high-speed internet service offering as it is anticipating fierce competition from Reliance Jio, which is the only private company with licenses in all 22 circles. It has already rolled out 4G services across all its circles, the first telecom operator to do so ahead of Jio's expected roll out in December this year. In 2010, Airtel had acquired spectrum in for four circles - Kolkata, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka. Later in 2013, it acquired licenses from Qualcomm for Mumbai, Delhi, Haryana and Kerala circles.
Augere, backed by French Telecom and several private equity funds, had bought the license for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh area in 2010 for an estimated Rs 125 crore and had announced to invest close to Rs 270 crore in infrastructure setup. However, it later decided to shut India operations citing regulatory uncertainties related to spectrum auction and was in the look out to sell its license since 2012. The UK-based company currently provides internet services in Pakistan and Bangladesh, according to its website.
