RCom Offers to Settle with Ericsson

The legal soap opera surrounding Reliance Communications’ asset sales and debt troubles in India could be about to enter a new stage. RCom has apparently offered to pay Ericsson 5 billion rupees (about $74M) of what it owes, hoping to gain approval for its sale of its wireless and fiber assets. 

Ericsson has been handling the operations and maintenance of RCom’s network in India since 2014, and took the company to BK court claiming unpaid bills of 11.55B rupees, or $170.22. So this offer would be less than half of what Ericsson feels it is owed, but of course it’s unclear just how much they could get or how long it would take if the Swedish-based vendor turns down the offer.  The courts have given them a few days to come to terms if they can.

Meanwhile, Rcom says that its Infratel unit has reached an amicable settlement with its minority shareholders, led by HSBC Daisy Investments, in relation to the sale of the tower and fiber assets. So if they can get the debt resolution part squared away, things could move quickly both for that deal and the rumored sale process for GCX.

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Categories: Fiber Networks · Financials · Wireless