NEW DELHI: Shares of Reliance Communications were trading marginally lower in Tuesday's trade after the telecom department approved the company's merger Sistema Shyam Telecom Limited (SSTL), which operates the MTS brand in nine circles in India, two sources aware of the development said.

The scrip was trading flat at Rs 17.70 around 10 am (IST). It opened at Rs 18.05 and touched an intraday high and low of Rs 19.10 and Rs 17.45 in first hour of the trade.

The department, which was the final authority to give a nod to the merger, gave a go-ahead on October 20, following which operations of the Russian backed carrier which has 4 million users, will be transferred to the Anil Ambani-owned carrier.

The deal, which is valued at Rs 5,000 crore, would provide RCom with 3.75 MHz of highly valuable spectrum in 850 MHZ band in Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, UP (West), Kolkata, West Bengal and Rajasthan. SSTL has spectrum holdings in these circles, except for Rajasthan, valid till FY 2033, and therefore would reduce the need for RCom to buy airwaves in future auctions. RCom's CDMA spectrum in eight circles is set to expire in 2021, ET reported.