Nikhil adds: Since this story went up, Airtel's PR agency has been calling us, asking us to remove the story because their tweet, which confirmed the acquisition, went out earlier than planned. We don't see why that should be reason enough to pull down a story. Update: Airtel's CEO Gopal Vittal has confirmed the spectrum acquisition in a tweet. An Airtel spokesperson told MediaNama that the deal is subject to regulatory, shareholders and other customary approvals. https://twitter.com/airtelnews/status/844823027581931520 We missed this earlier. Bharti Airtel is eyeing at more 4G spectrum after the entry of Reliance Jio, a 4G-only telecom operator with a presence in all 22 circles. Airtel, on the other hand, has 4G operations in 21 circles and has already announced a merger deal with Telenor to place itself in a better position to compete with Jio. A Mint report last week said that Airtel was in initial talks with broadband Internet Service Provider (ISP) Tikona Digital to acquire the latter’s 4G spectrum for an approximate price between Rs 800-1000 crore. A spokesperson from Airtel declined to comment on the report when MediaNama sought a confirmation. Tikona is yet to provide a response to our query. According to the report, Tikona might separate its broadband business from its core business, and run the broadband service as an independent brand. The company had won 20 MHz of the 2300 MHz band (used for 4G) in 5 service areas including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh during 2010…
