Update March 20: Reliance Communications (RCOM) today announced that it has received an approval of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for the proposed merger with Aircel.
Earlier: Back in September last year Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Maxis Communications Berhad (MCB), promoters of Aircel announced that they have signing an agreement for the merger of their Indian wireless businesses.
Today RCOM said that it has received approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), BSE Limited (BSE) and National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) for the Scheme of Arrangement for demerger of the Wireless division of the Company into Aircel Limited and Dishnet Wireless Limited.
Reliance Communications Limited also said that it has filed an application with National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai Bench, for approval. It said that the transaction is subject to other necessary approvals.
Post closing, the Company and the present shareholders of Aircel Limited will hold 50% each in Aircel Limited. The merged entity will, however, carry a debt of nearly Rs. 28,000 crore — RCom and Aircel will each contribute half that amount into the debt pool.
MergedCo’s subscribers will have access to nationwide 4G LTE services on the sub-1 GHz band, under RCOM’s existing nation-wide spectrum sharing / ICR arrangements with Reliance Jio Infocomm. This will offer a robust platform of services across all customer segments in all 22 telecom circles.