India's Bharti Airtel has announced plans to buy out the assets of smaller rival Loop Mobile, in a deal that will net the company another 3 million mobile customers.
Airtel revealed that the company is finalizing a deal to acquire Loop Mobile's customer base and its roughly 2,500 2G cell sites in Mumbai. The acquisition still requires regulatory and statutory approval.
If approved, Airtel will have over 7 million mobile customers in the Mumbai region, and around 6,500 2G and 3G cell sites across the service area.
The size of the proposed transaction has not been disclosed, but sources close to the deal told Press Trust of Indiaxthat the sale is worth about 7 billion rupees ($112.6 million).
The sources added that the deal does not cover a transfer of Loop's employees to Airtel.
Loop Mobile once provided GSM services in 14 of India's 22 telecom circles. But after the Indian government revoked 122 circle-specific 2G licenses in 2012, including licenses held by Loop, the company wound up its operations everywhere but in Mumbai. The circle had by far been Loop's largest service area by customer-base.
Loop's operating license in Mumbai is due to expire in November.