Airtel Acquires Augere Wireless to Boost its 4G Plans

In its bid to further cement its 4G strategy, Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”), a leading global telecommunications services provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 100% equity stake in Augere Wireless Broadband India Pvt. Ltd.

Augere holds 20 MHz of BWA spectrum in the telecom circle of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (MPCG). Upon acquisition, Augere will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Airtel.

The financial details of this deal are not disclosed and the acquisition is subject to necessary statutory and regulatory approvals.

Quite recently Bharti Airtel has launched its 4G services across about 300 locations in India and this acquisition will provide boost to its 4G network.

It is important to note that Augere is a wireless broadband business founded in the year 2007. It is headed by the former CEO of Orange, Sanjiv Ahuja. Augere has so far launched broadband internet services in Pakistan in July 2009 and in Bangladesh in October 2009 under the brand name Qubee.

In India, Bharti Airtel's offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed DSL broadband, IPTV, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers.

In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 333 million customers across its operations at the end of July 2015.