Airtel-Telenor merger gets SEBI, BSE, NSE nod

Bharti Airtel has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), BSE and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) for the proposed merger with Telenor (India), a company statement said here on Thursday.

Bharti Airtel further stated that Telenor India and Airtel have filed the joint company application before the New Delhi Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on Thursday for approval of the proposed merger. 

"The merger is inter alia subject to other statutory approvals including from the Competition Commission of India," the statement said.

Airtel had announced, in February, that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Telenor South Asia Investments. As part of the scheme, Airtel will acquire Telenor India's running operations in seven circles – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West) and Assam. 

"These circles represent a high population concentration and therefore offer a high potential for growth. The proposed acquisition will include transfer of all of Telenor India's assets and customers, further augmenting Airtel's overall customer base and network," the statement said. 

"It will also enable Airtel to further bolster its strong spectrum foot-print in these seven circles, with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band," it added.

During the acquisition announcement the deal was estimated to be in the range of Rs 1,800 crore–Rs 2,000 crore by industry sources.