Airtel announced that they have acquired 100% stake in Qualcomm Inc’s 4G venture. Airtel increased its stake to 51% from 49% back in July, which it acquired back in May 2012 by paying US$ 165 million (Rs 927.39 crore approx). Qualcomm won BWA Spectrum in Delhi, Mumbai, Haryana and Kerala circles in 2010 by paying about US$ 1 billion (Rs. 4912.54 crore approx) in the auction by DoT in June 2010 Department of Telecom (DoT).
With this Airtel takes full ownership of the Qualcomm Asia Pacific’s (Qualcomm AP) licenses. This deal was expected to happen before the end of 2014, but it has happened more than a year earlier. These companies did not disclose the final amount of the deal.
Airtel 4G services are available in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune and Chandigarh. The company is yet to launch 4G LTE services in Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala and Haryana circles. Hope we can expect 4G roll out in these circles soon since Airtel has the full ownership of the 4G BWA Spectrum.