Reliance Communications has alleged the Department of Telecommunications of unfair and discriminatory practices. The Anil Ambani led telco said that demands for bank guarantees were sought from the telco for the 850Mhz spectrum. However, the same wasn’t done for Vodafone India, another telecom company which is currently under the merger process with Idea Cellular. As per people aware of the matter, the operator has requested the DoT to not resort to such biased practices reports ETTelecom.
It’s noteworthy that the department had sought bank guarantees worth Rs 2,000 crore in 2016 from the Anil Ambani led telco for the One Time Spectrum Charges (OTSC). The case is similar for Vodafone India, where the legal situations are same as RCom’s in 2016. Bank guarantees which the DoT would seek from Vodafone India stand at a whopping Rs 9,000 crore for OTSC charges.
In 2016, Reliance Communications had provided bank guarantees to secure the payment of OTSC. Also, it had moved to court to oppose the demand which was raised by the DoT. As of now, after facing troubled financial situations in the market, the telecom operator has had a bit of relief after the tribunal directed DoT to release bank guarantees. Now, RCom will sell its wireless assets to Reliance Jio and will use the cash flow to pare its pending debt.
In the merger of Vodafone and Idea Cellular, the DoT has passed on a conditional decision saying that the final nod to the merger will be given once the pending debt of Rs 7,200 crores is cleared by both the parties.
