Why Reliance Communication Wants To Extend Its Spectrum Licence For 20 Years

Reliance Communication has asked the telecom department to extend its telecom license for 20 years. Notably, the company has already shut its telecom business and announced bankruptcy due to debt and ongoing competition in the telecom industry. Now, RCom wants to retain its spectrum to run its enterprise business.

In fact, DoT has asked the company about the company's ownership details. Notably, RCom was previously owned by Anil Ambani; however, now it is run by resolution professional (RP) Deloitte under the bankruptcy process.

"RCom's license as an operator expires in July and it has approached the DoT for renewal," said one of the officials. "The lenders or RP will now have to figure out who will take the onus of accepting responsibility as the owner. Whosoever accepts ownership will need to respond later to queries around the payment of statutory dues," officials added.

Reliance Communication Shuts Down Mobile Business In India

It is worth noting that Reliance Communication is not providing its telecom business since 2017; however, it is running its enterprises business in the country.

"We are bound by confidentiality obligations and are unable to comment on client-specific matters," Deloitte was quoted by ET. Notably, the telecom operator owns spectrum in the 850 MHz band in 14 telecom circles out of all circles.

UVARCL Wants To Buy Reliance Communication Spectrum

Reliance Communication of creditors asked UVARCL to buy spectrum and fibre, which is close to Rs. 12, 760 crores. However, the UVARCL proposal of purchasing is likely to be cleared by the National Company Law Tribunal.

In addition, the tower unit of Reliance Communication, which is Reliance Infratel, is likely to purchase by India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio.

"The tower businesses do not need this license as a telco can lease them out. However, the enterprise segment is still running and will be halted if RCom's license expires," said another person.

For the unaware, RCom had a debt of about Rs. 46,000 crores. It is worth considering that Reliance Communication was not the only telecom operator that filed for bankruptcy, Aircel, and Videocon did the same due to Reliance Jio tariff packs.