MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel is close to buying 4G airwaves from Aircel for about Rs 3,800 crore as India’s No. 1 phone company looks to strengthen its high-speed broadband spectrum holdings ahead of an expected battle over data services with Reliance Jio Infocomm.The deal to buy Aircel’s 4G spectrum in the 2300 MHz frequency band in eight circles is expected to be finalised by March-end, said two persons aware of the matter. This will extend Bharti Airtel’s 4G footprint across bands to 18 circles from 15, closing the gap with Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio, the only telco with pan-India holdings in all 22 circles. The 2300 MHz airwaves that Airtel and Aircel have don’t overlap in any service areas.“Both companies are interested in closing this as quickly as possible for furthering their plans linked to the sale,” the person said.A Bharti Airtel spokesperson said: “We keep receiving proposals from various quarters. We review them from time to time. As and when any proposal gets finalised we make appropriate disclosures.” Aircel didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment till press time.Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel has been on a drive to acquire 4G spectrum. After buying Qualcomm’s airwaves in four circles, Bharti Airtel purchased Augere Wireless, which owned 4G airwaves in the Chhattisgarh-Madhya Pradesh circle. Both the deals netted Airtel airwaves in the 2300 MHz band and raised its holdings in that particular band to nine, including four of its own. Acquisition of Aircel’s spectrum in the same band will take its 2300 MHz holdings to 17 circles.And including the 4G-ready airwaves in the 1800 MHz band it already hold, Airtel will have an overall 4G footprint in 18 service areas post a deal with Aircel.If the Bharti Airtel-Aircel deal takes place, Tikona Digital will be left as a last possible target. It has 4G airwaves in the 2300 MHz band in the service areas of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, having got these in 2010.There has been intermittent talk of a Bharti Airtel-Aircel deal on 2300 Mhz spectrum over the past three years. ET had reported on October 7, 2015 that discussions had resumed.Maxis-owned Aircel wants to close the deal as its merger with Reliance Communications is linked to this. The company had proposed in December, when it opened talks with RCom, that it would use proceeds from the sale of its airwaves to pare an estimated debt of Rs 25,000 crore before merging with the Anil Ambani company.Aircel paid Rs 3,438 crore to win airwaves in the 2300 MHz band in the 2010 spectrum auction. Like most of the companies that bought the airwaves at the time, Aircel has barely met rollout obligations. Its 4G networks are functional in six circles—Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir—for enterprise customers only. It’s yet to launch any services in the North East and West Bengal.Bharti Airtel was the first to start 4G services, mostly on 2300 MHz band, in 2012. It has stepped up the rollout in the last few months, expanding to more than 350 cities and towns, anticipating stiff competition from Jio, which is expected to start commercial operations in April.Top GSM telcos and Bharti’s rivals Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have also launched 4G services, albeit on the 1800 MHz band, as they brace for a bitter battle for higher-paying data subscribers with Jio. Given the plateauing of growth in voice revenue and the spurt in mobile data, success in 3G and 4G will be key to profitability.Jio has inked spectrum-sharing and trading deals for the 800-850 MHz band with RCom in a bid to bolster its airwave holdings for 4G and voice fallback options.Bharti Airtel hopes to put up a stiff fight on technology platforms similar to what Jio will use and on pricing, said an industry expert.