Indian mobile giant Bharti Airtel has abandoned plans to acquire smaller rival Loop Mobile as the deal has not secured regulatory approvals, according to multiple local reports.
The transaction, agreed in February, would have been India’s first…
Indian mobile giant Bharti Airtel has abandoned plans to acquire smaller rival Loop Mobile as the deal has not secured regulatory approvals, according to multiple local reports.
The transaction, agreed in February, would have been India’s first consolidation deal in almost six years and strengthened Airtel’s position in Mumbai, where it already has four million subscribers.
While the value was not disclosed, media reports at the time suggested it would be around the Rs7bn (US$113m) mark: Rs3bn worth of equity and the remainder in debt.
The two operators applied to the Department of Telecommunications for approval in March.
Loop chief operating officer Surya Mahadevan was quoted in Indian newspapers as saying the failure of the transaction means all of the 20-year-old company’s customers must be ported out of the network by 29 November, when operations will be terminated.
The minnow did not take part in India’s February spectrum auction and will therefore lose its 900 MHz licence in Mumbai at the end of the month.
Loop had to stop providing mobile services outside Mumbai in 2012 after its 2G licence was cancelled because of irregularities in its attribution in 2008.
The Economic Times cited Mahadevan as saying Loop is currently unclear about what will become of its assets.
The deal would have seen Airtel acquire Loop’s network and around three million high-paying subscribers in Mumbai. However, while awaiting regulatory approval, the smaller operator’s customer numbers have declined, the reports stated.
Neither Airtel nor Loop was immediately available for comment.
