Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices surge up to 10% on merger plan

Shares of telecom companies, Bharti Airtel and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), have rallied by up to 10% after Sunil Mittal - owned  Bharti Airtel agreed to take over Tata Group’s mobile services business.

Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecommunications services provider and Tata, India’s leading conglomerate, on Thursday announced that they have entered into an understanding (“Agreement”) to merge Consumer Mobile Businesses (CMB) of Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and TTML into Bharti Airtel. The acquisition is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

“As part of the Agreement, Bharti Airtel will absorb Tata CMB’s operations across the country in nineteen circles (17 under TTSL and 2 under TTML). These circles represent bulk of India’s population and customer base,” Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The merger is being done on a debt-free cash-free basis, except for Bharti Airtel assuming a small portion of the unpaid spectrum liability of Tata’s towards the DoT, which is to be paid on deferred basis, it added.