Things seem to be growing tougher for the already bankrupt telco Aircel. The telecom operator went bankrupt due to immense competition in the market and has since then not been able to recover from the losses. Also, another news has surfaced now which points out that the insolvent telco doesn’t hold intentions of selling off its scrap and optic fibre assets to pile up salaries for its employees.
Ever since the telco went through the insolvency process, Deloitte’s Vijaykumar Iyer has taken the reins as the Interim Resolution Professional. The IRP called a meeting to discuss the future options for the company in presence of the higher management and the lenders of the telco.
According to the people present at the meeting, the lenders and other officials did not entirely agree on the idea of selling off assets to bring in some cash flow. The lenders also did not entertain the idea of giving out 15 days salaries to 3,000 something employees who remain unpaid since March reports EconomicTimes.
Another executive present at the meeting remarked “The situation is very grim since only few days are left and there is no sign of any asset sale. Questions are being raised if enough is being done for the asset monetisation programme.” When posed with questions from ET, SBI, Aircel and Deloitte – all three firms refused to make any comments on the matter.
According to the present situations, if the case worsens, Aircel might have to head over to the last resort of liquidation. The IRP has been given a time window of 180 days out of which 90 days have already passed. However, 90 more days of extension can be granted on substantial grounds. If the rest half of this time window passes without any sign of development, then Aircel will have to face liquidation.
It is noteworthy that Aircel is in a debt of Rs 50,000 crore out of which a whopping Rs 19,000 crore it owes to its financial lenders. It was on March 8, when the National Company Law Tribunal admitted Aircel’s plea of bankruptcy protection. While acknowledging the company’s request for bankruptcy the tribunal highlighted that the enterprise business of Aircel’s unit – Dishnet Wireless which owned substantial assets like spectrum, towers and fibre sum up to Rs 32,000 crore. The Tribunal further added that if sold, this money could be vital for Aircel in paring its debt.
