Taut to become the largest telecom operator in Mumbai telecom circle, India’s top telecom operator Bharti Airtel has withdrew from the Rs 700 crore deal to acquire Loop Mobile. Department of Telecom (DOT) was yet to clear the deal between this two telecom operator, when Bharti Airtel suddenly withdrew from the deal.
“Loop Mobile and Bharti applied to DoT for approval of the business transfer in March 2014. The approval for the transaction is still awaited from the relevant authorities as a result of which Bharti Airtel has withdrawn from the proposed transaction causing huge loss to the company,” Loop Mobile spokesperson told PTI.
Loop Mobile has spectrum license in Mumbai telecom circle which will expire on November 29th 2014. Loop Mobile didn’t participated in the recently held spectrum auction for 1800 MHz and 900MHz, which was mandatory for continuing its operations.
In February 2014 Airtel signed a deal to acquire the Loop Mobile, the telecom operator which operates only in Mumbai telecom circle. In a Rs 700 core said deal Airtel will get Loop’s 3 million subscribers base, about 400 telecom towers, optic fibre networks, and all the electronic equipment associated with Loop’s. With this acquisition Bharti Airtel would have added up 3 million subscribers to its network, taking its total customer base to around 7.1 million subscribers, ahead of Vodafone India.