RCom receives green signal from CCI to buy Sistema Shyam

NEW DELHI: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCom) has said that it has received green signal from Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire Sistema’s Indian wireless business, carried on by Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd. (SSTL) under the MTS brand.

“We wish to inform you that the Competition Commission of India has approved transfer of Telecommunications Undertaking of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Limited to the Company,” the company said while informing to BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange).

On November 2, 2015, RCom had officially said that it will acquire Sistema’s Indian wireless business, carried on by Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd. (SSTL) under the MTS brand, into RCom. The closing of the transaction is expected in the second quarter of 2016.

With this, the company will acquire MTS approx. 9 million customers and approx. Rs. 1,500 crore of annual revenues by virtue of the transaction.

In addition, RCom will acquire SSTL’s most valuable and superior 800 / 850 MHz band spectrum, ideally suited for 4G LTE services, to complement its own unique nationwide footprint of minimum 5 MHz contiguous 800 / 850 MHz spectrum aggregating 148.75 MHz.

This will extend the validity of RCcom’s spectrum in 800 / 850 MHz band in 8 important circles by a period of 12 years from 2021 till 2033 (Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, UP (West) and West Bengal).

As result of the demerger, SSTL will acquire and hold a 10% equity stake in RCOM. In addition, RCom will assume the liability to pay the DoT instalments for SSTL’s spectrum, amounting to Rs. 392 crore per annum for the next 10 years.

The company has a customer base of over 118 million, including over 2.6 million individual overseas retail customers. RCom corporate clientele includes over 39,000 Indian and multinational corporations including small and medium enterprises and over 290 global, regional and domestic carriers.