Mumbai: The department of telecommunications (DoT) on Friday contended before the Mumbai bench of the bankruptcy tribunal that spectrum should not be part of the resolution plan for Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) and its unit, Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL).
“The DoT filed an affidavit detailing its objections, as directed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), and said that spectrum cannot be sold under the resolution process," said a person aware of the development.
The person added that the tribunal will next hear the case on 8 September.
RCom owes ₹49,054 crore to its lenders and also owes ₹25,199 crore in spectrum usage charges and license fee dues to the DoT, shows government estimates.
UV Asset Reconstruction Co. Ltd (UV ARC) and Reliance Jio, the winning bidders for RCom’s spectrum, real estate, enterprise, tower and data centre business, have together offered more than ₹20,000 crore (on net present value basis) for these assets.
The surprise DoT objection adds a new twist to RCom’s insolvency resolution plan that its lenders submitted for National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approval in March.
The DoT objection comes after the Supreme Court recently asked the government to clarify how it plans to recover dues from bankrupt telcos, which also include Aircel and Videocon.
The court has previously asked the government to investigate whether any bankrupt telco is misusing the insolvency process to avoid paying dues. The SC is also hearing arguments whether such companies can be allowed to sell spectrum held by them to repay dues.
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