Bharti gets extra 2G spectrum in 5 telecom circles
Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel on 30 JAN 2008, said that the government has allotted additional spectrum to the company in five telecom circles in the country. The five circles are West Bengal, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (west), Assam and Haryana. The company also reported an impressive 42 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs.1,722 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2008 against Rs. 1,215 crore in the same period in the previous year.
Bharti Airtel President and CEO Manoj Kohli, said that it had received a formal communication from the Department of Telecom (DoT) for the allotment of additional spectrum to the company in five circles. And the company has also applied for additional spectrum in 10 telecom circles across the country. The other circles, where the company is still awaiting the allotment of additional spectrum are Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. And it seems that it may be get additional spectrum in the rest of five circles in a couple of months.Bharti will be given the additional spectrum in these 10 circles in tranches of 1 MHz, as against the earlier norms where additional radio frequencies were allotted in blocks of 1.8-2.2 MHz.
Bharti Airtel is also to receive additional radio frequencies in five other circles, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Chennai, within the next couple of days. This marks the first spectrum allotment to the company since the second half of 2006. The additional allotments are based on the new norms prescribed by sector regulator TRAI, where existing operators will have to increase their subscriber base between two to six time before they are eligible for additional radio frequencies.
Bharti Airtel joint MD Akhil Gupta, said that the revenues from Indus towers would start kicking in February 1, 2008. In December, 2007, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular had merged its wireless infrastructure businesses in 16 circles to share 70,000 tower to form Indus, the world’s largest independent tower company. He also added that competition from new operators will have no pressure on the company’s growth as it was accounted for in the business. And with its increasing new oppurtunities Bharti will be rolling out Direct-to-Home and Internet Protocol TV in the first quarter of the next fiscal year starting April.
Tags: , additinal spectrum, Airtel, bharti, radio frequency