Vodafone, Idea to weigh sale, trade of spectrum post merger

The soon to be merged telecom entity may trade its spectrum with other carriers to meet India’s antitrust rules, sources said on Friday.

Both telecom are also considering selling of its existing spectrum in ‘private plans’ sources revealed under the conditions of anonymity.

After concluding the deal, the merged entity would have one year to reduce excess spectrum, the people familiar with the matter said.

India telecom mergers and acquisitions (M&A) rules state that in each of the country’s 22 circles, a carrier cannot hold more than 50% in individual bands and 25% of all bands.

The Vodafone-Idea Cellular merged entity would need to dispose of nearly Rs 18,000 crore of excess spectrum, a report by Economic Times said on Friday.

In last year’s spectrum auction, Vodafone acquired spectrum in 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2500 MHz bands for a total cost of Rs.20,280 crore.

While Idea acquired 349.20 MHz of spectrum for Rs.12,798 crore in 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands.