Bharti Airtel, India’s largest telecom operator is acquiring Telenor (India) Communications Private Limited in all seven circles where it holds spectrum.

The entry of Reliance Jio and its crossing the 100 million mark of subscriber base has led to India’s telecom sector witnessing aggressive acquisitions as the larger players try to hold on to their positions.

Telenor (formerly Uninor) was a late entry into India’s crowded telecom sector and was running losses. In the year 2016, company faced a loss of bruising Rs 5,856 Crore. It has operations in seven circles – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Assam.

As Airtel acquires Telenor, its debt will increase by Rs 8,000 Crore but the benefits are likely to help Airtel retain its number one position in the market. This deal will add 52.5 million users from Telenor to Airtel’s existing 269.4 subscribers, increase its revenue market share by two percentage points to 35 per cent, add up to $60 million to its pre-tax profits and boost its spectrum footprint with the addition of 43.4 MHz spectrum.

A Telenor spokesman told Reuters that Bharti Airtel will not pay any cash under the deal but will instead take on the Telenor unit’s commitments to pay for licences and phone towers.

Vodafone announced last month that it was in talks with Idea Cellular to merge its Indian subsidiary. Reliance Communications too has entered into an agreement with Aircel and MTS.