Bharti Airtel has received Rs 1,004.8 crore (net of tax) from Reliance Jio for selling 7.50 MHz of spectrum in 800 MHz band spanning across three circles to the latter. In addition, Jio will assume future liabilities of Rs 469.3 crore relating to the spectrum. With this payment, the spectrum trading agreement between the two firms has been concluded.

The 800 MHz spectrum sold by Bharti had come to it when it acquired Tata Teleservices wireless business. Bharti had sold 3.75 MHz in Andhra Pradesh, 1.25 MHz in Delhi, and 2.50 MHz in Mumbai. This was the first spectrum trading deal between the top two mobile operators of the country.

The deal makes sense for both parties as the 800 MHz spectrum sold by Bharti was unutilised and was in small quantity as its 4G network in the circles are built primarily on the 900 MHz spectrum. For Jio, buying the spectrum made sense as its 4G network is primarily built on 800 MHz spectrum and it got contiguous spectrum in this band in the concerned circles thus strengthening its portfolio.