RCOM, Reliance Jio terminate spectrum deals amidst regulatory and legal hurdles

Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Reliance Jio have mutually decided to terminate their asset-sale agreements amidst regulatory and legal hurdles. The agreements were signed on December 28, 2017 and August 11, 2018 and were aimed at reducing RCOM’s debt. According to RCOM’s regulatory filing, the transactions were called off due to non-receipt of consent and no-objection certificates from RCOM’s foreign and Indian lenders. Further, the non-receipt of requisite permissions and approvals from the Department of Telecommunications, and the decision by the RCOM board at its meeting on February 1, 2019, to seek fast-track resolution of its overall debt through the National Company Law Tribunal, were among the other reasons. Separately, RCOM has paid off dues worth Rs 4.58 billion to Ericsson, avoiding a potential three-month jail term for its chairman. With this, RCOM has successfully ended its 18-month-long battle with Ericsson, which had claimed dues for its maintenance services.