Reliance Jio might be at a disadvantage over delayed launch as Airtel can now offer 4G across India

Bharti Airtel can now offer 4G across 22 circles as it bought Aircel's 4G airwaves. With this, Airtel ended the dream run of Reliance Jio Infocomm to be the first player to offer 4G services pan India.

Mukesh Ambani is yet to make a commercial launch of 4G services and it is expected to happen by the end of this month.

Now, with the acquisition of Aircel's 4G airwaves, Airtel's overall spectrum market share may go up to 21%, gong ahead of Reliance Jio Infocomm's 13%.

Airtel will also be at an advantage from Vodafone India and Idea Cellular.

"We believe Bharti has the cost-position, scale and cashflows to defend its revenue share and margins against the impact of Jio's launch," said Deutsche Bank in a note seen by ET.

Morgan Stanley also believes Bharti's countrywide 2300 MHz airwave holdings will stand it in good stead.

Brokerage BNP Paribas told ET Bharti has enough spectrum for coverage and capacity, and does not need to spend much in the next auction, once it concludes recent 4G spectrum acquisitions from Aircel and Videocon.

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