Department Of Telecom To Clear RCom Jio Spectrum Deal By Monday

Описание: Department Of Telecom To Clear RCom Jio Spectrum Deal By Monday.The telecom department has informed the Supreme Court that it will give its nod to Reliance Communications’ spectrum sale by Monday morning, providing big relief to the Anil Ambani owned telco which can then go ahead with its asset sale and pay off its lenders and creditors .

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) on Friday told the apex court that it was conducting its due diligence on the corporate guarantee of Rs 1400 crore provided by Reliance Realty-unit of RCom against spectrum dues. The corporate guarantee and a plot of land were provided as security against spectrum-related dues worth Rs 2,947.68 crore.

Now once the no objection certificate (NOC) comes in from DoT, RCom is expected to complete its asset sale to Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) and Brookfield and pay Swedish telecom gear maker Ericsson as well, soon after .

The legal battle between DoT and RCom over dues has been on for few months now.
The SC in a previous order had directed DoT to grant RCom approval within seven days of receiving the corporate guarantee and when that deadline lapsed, RCom filed a contempt case against DoT.

For RCom this approval was crucial because it is close to missing its payment deadline of December 15 to Ericsson. This week it had even asked for extended timeline which was refused by SC on Thursday.

Ericsson’s lawyers had told ET earlier that if payment of Rs 550 crore is not made within the scheduled date , the contempt petition and insolvency order will be listed when court reopens in January after the winter break.
Besides Ericsson, Rcom also has to clear the dues of its 39 financial lenders, besides operational creditors including minority shareholders of Reliance Inftratel-an RCom subsidiary.

The telco under a debt of Rs 46,000 crore is desperately awaiting DoT’s nod for spectrum sale, post which the Anil Ambani owned telco will complete its asset monetisation plan with Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) and Canadian asset management firm Brookfield for Rs 18,000 crore.
The company, which was forced to shut its wireless operations late 2017 facing huge debt, falling revenue and widening losses, has completed the sale of fibre assets and switching nodes to Jio for Rs 5,000 crore, while spectrum and tower assets to the new telecom entrant are still pending and some land parcels need to be sold to Brookfield.

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