Airtel Called off 700 Crore Rupees deal with Loop Mobile

Airtel on 5 November 2014 called off the 700 crore rupees deal with Loop Mobile. Airtel had signed the deal with Loop Mobile in February 2014 to buy the company's business and assets in Mumbai.

Airtel called off the deal as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under Union Ministry of Information and Technology is yet to clear the transaction and the Loop's mobile license is set to expire on 29 November 2014.

Loop Mobile and Bharti had applied to the DoT for approval of the business transfer in March 2014.

With this development, Khaitan-group promoted Loop Mobile will not be able to migrate its 3 million subscribers to Airtel as envisaged under the agreement. The migration of 3 million subscribers of Loop Mobile along with 4 million subscribers of Airtel would have made Airtel thelargest network in Mumbai.

The deal between Loop Mobile and Airtel was signed after the Supreme Court had cancelled the pan-India permit of Loop Mobile as part of quashing 122 telecom licences in February 2012. However, the SC order did not apply to Loop Mobile's Mumbai licence.

Further, the company also did not purchase spectrum in auction held in February 2014 which was mandatory for continuing its operations.