Major Indian player Bharti Airtel now fully owns Wireless Business Services (WBSPL), once a BWA venture with US chipmaker Qualcomm, after acquiring an additional 49% stake, it said in a stock exchange announcement today.
This acquisition allows…
Major Indian player Bharti Airtel now fully owns Wireless Business Services (WBSPL), once a BWA venture with US chipmaker Qualcomm, after acquiring an additional 49% stake, it said in a stock exchange announcement today.
This acquisition allows Airtel, which already has BWA licences in Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra, to expand its 4G footprint.
The deal value has not been disclosed and Bharti Airtel was not immediately available for comment. But when Airtel agreed to buy 49% of Qualcomm’s Indian BWA unit in mid-2012 it paid US$165m for a 49% stake.
At the time, the operator stated that “the agreement contemplates that once commercial operations are launched…Bharti would assume complete ownership and financial responsibility for the BWA entities by the end of 2014”.
Almost four months ago, Airtel boosted its stake to 51% in WBSPL, which subsequently became a subsidiary of the Indian telco.
In June 2010, the US semiconductor company applied for BWA licences following a successful bid for frequencies in the circles of Mumbai, Delhi, Kerala and Haryana for US$1bn.
But the telecoms ministry initially refused to allocate the frequencies, arguing that Qualcomm was late in filing the application. The dispute came to an end at the beginning of May 2012, with Qualcomm being awarded 4G spectrum in the four circles.
