RCom gets nod from bourses on SSTL acquisition

Country’s fourth-largest telecom operator Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) on Thursday said stock exchanges BSE and NSE gave their approval to its deal to acquire Russian conglomerate Sistema's Indian telecom unit, Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), as per the media reports. In a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, RCom said, “The company have received Observation Letter from BSE Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Limited on the Scheme of Arrangement (Scheme).” “The company and SSTL are proceeding to file necessary application with the Bombay High Court and Rajasthan High Court respectively for approval of the scheme,” it added. In November, RCom had announced the acquisition of Sistema’s Indian telecom unit in an all-stock deal that will create an operator with 118 million subscribers. As per the deal, SSTL will hold about 10 per cent stake in RCom and pay off its existing debt before closing the deal. SSTL offers mobile telephony services under MTS brand across nine telecom circles in the country. The deal will give RCom access to spectrum or airwaves in the 850 Mhz band which can be used for 4G services that it plans to start by the year-end. Also, it will be able to extend the validity of its licence by 12 years in eight high revenue generating circles of Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, UP (West) and West Bengal. Meanwhile, shares of Reliance Communications were trading at Rs 78.40 apiece, down 0.57 per cent, from previous close on BSE at 13:54 hours.