Reliance Communications (RCom) has received a nod from the stock exchanges to acquire Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), which operates under the MTS brand in the country.
The Anil Ambani-led telecom service provider, in a BSE filing said, “We wish to inform you that we have received observation letters from BSE and NSE.”
The company along with SSTL will now file necessary applications with the Bombay High Court and Rajasthan High Court, respectively, for approval of the scheme. After the approval from the courts, the telecom service provider will approach the Indian telecom department for rearrangement of licences.
RCom had announced acquisition of Sistema’s Indian telecom unit in an all-stock deal in November last year. After the merger, Sistema Shyam Teleservices will hold a 10% equity stake in RCom, which will assume the liability to pay the government installments for SSTL’s spectrum.
RCom recently said that it entered into merger talks to acquire domestic wireless business of Aircel, which is the country’s fifth largest mobile carrier with pan-India operations. RCom had then said that the discussions were "non-binding" in nature, and will exclude RCom's towers and optical fibre infrastructure.