Lenders come to Anil Ambani's rescue, to pay RCom's Rs 774 cr spectrum dues to DoT

MUMBAI: Lenders led by State Bank of India (SBI) on Monday agreed to pay Rs 774 crore of deferred spectrum charges for Reliance Communications (RCom) to prevent further litigation in the Anil Ambani-owned company’s debt takeover by Reliance Jio, said two people close to the developments.

Earlier, RCom had moved the Supreme Court asking for more time to pay spectrum liabilities after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) refused to grant the struggling telco an extension to clear the dues. RCom has yet to pay the 2017-18 instalment for spectrum auctioned in 2013 and 2015. The amount was due on April 20.

“There is no point in further adding to the litigation that is delaying the settlement of this loan,” said one of the people quoted earlier. SBI on Monday wrote to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that it would pay on behalf of RCom, and that the case should be put to rest.

The DoT holds bank guarantees for all deferred spectrum charges. It has the right to forfeit spectrum or cellular licence if a payment goes unpaid. RCom and SBI could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press. Shares of RCom fell 1.7% to close at Rs 20.05 on the BSE on Monday.

RCom had sought additional time to pay as its assets were to be taken over by Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio in a Rs 18,000-crore debt transfer. This is as per the agreed terms in a strategic debt restructuring that RCom entered in August last year and concluded in December. RCom has been trying to sell its wireless assets including towers, fibre, spectrum and switching nodes to Reliance Jio, which would help pare its Rs 45,000 crore of debt by about Rs 25,000 crore.

However, legal tussles with vendors have delayed the sale beyond the deadline of March end. On Monday, there were fears that delays to the resolution process would spur secured lender China Development Bank (CDB) also into action to move for bankruptcy of the company, said a third person. Part of the debt recast involves transfer of a majority in the Navi Mumbai-based Dhirubhai Ambani Knowlede City real-estated to CDB that is recovering nearly $1 billion of secured debt to RCom.

“This move by lenders should at least expedite the eventual settlement of secured debtors,” said one of the two sources quoted earlier.

Reliance Communications (RCOM)