In a relief to Reliance Communications, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) directed the Department of Telecommunications to release ₹2,000-crore bank guarantee provided by the company.
The Anil Ambani group company had provided the bank guarantees under protest in 2016 to secure the payment of One Time Spectrum Charges (OTSC). The spectrum charges were in relation to liberalisation of the 800 MHz spectrum.
This amount was paid in cash for liberalisation of RCom’s spectrum, which is now being sold to Reliance Jio Infocomm .
Apart from the cash payment of ₹6,600 crore, RCom had also provided ₹2,000-crore bank guarantee under protest, as it was demanded by DoT. Later, RCom, then a mobile operator, had challenged the demand before TDSAT stating this demand “was unfair and illegal”.
Subsequent to liberalisation of this spectrum, RCom’s merger with SSTL also got it an additional liberalised 30 MHz of spectrum in the 850 MHz band, valid till 2032.
The Tribunal order will reduce non-funded exposure of banks by ₹2,000 crore and help in accelerating RCom’s asset monetisation programme for ₹25,000 crore, which was announced earlier.
In a similar case, Bharti Airtel had also appealed against the imposition of a bank guarantee for OTSC for its spectrum through the merger with Telenor. The Tribual had also awarded Airtel a similar relief.
On January 31, 2018, RCom had exited its wireless business-to-customer business and transformed into a pure-play B2B company. Post this exit, RCom is no longer a mobile firm.
The exit followed the sale of its wireless assets to RJio.
The company is now focussing on enterprise communications services and data centre space in India, and also has a global submarine cable business, providing enterprise data, across continents. Globally, RCom has more than 300 enterprise and carrier customers.
On December 28, 2017, Mukesh Ambani’s RJio had emerged as the white knight to acquire RCom’s wireless assets, controlled by his younger sibling Anil. RCom plans to sell its assets to RJio and private equity major Brookfield to pare debt.
Shares in RCom closed up 0.83 per cent at ₹13.35 on a steady BSE, which ended up 0.32 per cent on Tuesday.