RCom shareholders approve asset monetisation plan
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RCom shareholders approve asset monetisation plan

Reliance Communications’ (RCom) shareholders have green-lit an asset monetisation plan that sees the company sell off spectrum, tower, fibre and telecom infrastructure.

The decision was made after the company held a postal ballot that came to an end on 15 February 2018, with 99.91% of the board voting to approve the proposal.

The company says that the sale of its assets will reduce its debt and liabilities which are currently owed to the Department of Telecommunications' Spectrum Instalments, by $250 billion.

After it has settled its debts, RCom says it will continue operating its portfolio of B2B focused businesses, including Indian and global enterprises, internet data centres and what say is the largest private submarine cable network in the world. The company adds that its businesses are “stable, capital light and have sustained and predictable annuity revenues and profits, with immense growth potential amidst relatively low competitive intensity.”

The actual sale of assets is due to take place in March 2018, subject to lenders’ consents and other regulatory approvals.

The news comes on the heels of a previous announcement made earlier this year when RCom said that it was selling its spectrum, towers and other consumer telecoms assets to rival operator Reliance Jio for $3.77 billion in a bid to cut its debt. The assets that Reliance Jio has bought include 122.4MHz of 4G spectrum in the 800, 900, 1,800 and 2,100MHz bands; over 43,000 towers, which RCom had been trying to sell independently; 178,000 route kilometres of fibre; and 248 media convergence nodes. 

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