India's largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel has arranged to buy Augere Wireless for an undisclosed sum to help bolster its 4G spectrum holdings in preparation for competition from Reliance Jio.
The company said the acquisition will provide it with 20 MHz of additional 4G spectrum in the telecom circle of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgar.
Post acquisition, Augere Wireless will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airtel, the company added.
Augere Wireless operates telecom services in Pakistan and Bangladesh, but has yet to commercially launch services in India despite owning licenses to operate broadband wireless networks in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgar.
Airtel is meanwhile bracing for the upcoming launch of pan-India 4G hopeful Reliance Jio Infocomm, which plans to shake up the market with aggressive pricing and has deep enough pockets to have a disruptive impact.
Having first launched 4G services in 2012, Airtel's strategy is to gain a foothold in the 4G market to ensure it is in a good position to compete. The acquisition of Augere Wireless seems likely to be part of this plan.
Airtel currently offers TD-LTE services in 20 cities and numerous towns, and recently also launched a trial FDD LTE network.