Telecom wars: Bharti Airtel ramps up 4G data with Rs 1,600-cr Tikona deal

With the deal, Airtel is gearing up to face Jio with strong data offering, faster customer addition

In the midst of an aggressive war in the telecom sector, leading operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday made public its plan to go big on data. The telco announced the acquisition of Tikona Digital Networks’s 4G business, including broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum and 350 sites across five circles. With the deal, which values Tikona at Rs 1,600 crore, Sunil Mittal-led Airtel is gearing up to face Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio with a stronger data offering and faster customer addition. The deal is subject to requisite regulatory approvals. 

The company’s total mobile data customers are around 54. 9 million, of