The deal means RCom can pay its debts to Ericsson and to minority investors of its tower operation, Reliance Infratel, and can complete the sale of its spectrum to unrelated rival Reliance Jio.
The end to what appeared to be a long hiatus came when the Supreme Court today told the government’s Department of Telecommunications “to grant a no-objection” to the spectrum sale.
The Supreme Court upheld an earlier order of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), and no bank guarantee is now required, said an RCom official.
Reliance Realty, a 100% subsidiary of RCom, will issue a corporate guarantee of 14 billion rupees ($201 million), said the RCom official. RCom’s “asset monetization thus proceeds as per plan”.
The future of Global Cloud Xchange (GCX), RCom’s international subsea, data centre (pictured) and enterprise communication operation, is likely to become clearer after the spectrum and infrastructure deals are completed.
In September 2018 RCom was considering two bids for GCX. One of the bidders owns Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications; the other is a consortium of private equity companies. Both bid $1.1 billion, according to Capacity’s sources.
Reliance Jio, which will buy RCom’s spectrum, has emerged as one of the survivors in the last two years’ consolidation in the Indian mobile market. RCom and Jio are rival companies, run by brothers of the late Dhirubhai Ambani, who founded the Reliance group and split it between them.
