Mumbai : Tata Group may have to pay around Rs 9,000 crore in dues to the Department of Telecom to rescue the proposed sale of its mobile-phone business to Bharti Airtel, according to sources. The DoT is demanding that Tata Teleservices clear any obligations to the government before it approves the deal that was struck in October. However, Bharti Airtel is unlikely to agree to pay the sum.
Selling its indebted loss-making carrier will ease Tata’s exit from a sector that’s been ravaged by a tariff war, after the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm in 2016. Tata Group has been urging the telecom ministry to reduce the amount it’s asking for. The group is also preparing contingency plans to wind down the business in the worst-case scenario, another person said.
Bharti Airtel agreed to acquire Tata Teleservices’s airwaves and users in a “debt-free cash-free” transaction, with an understanding that past liabilities will be settled by the Tata group.
Airtel investors okay merger
Shareholders of Bharti Airtel today approved the merger of the mobile business of Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) with the company. The meeting was convened by Airtel following direction of the principal bench of the National Company Law Tribunal, at New Delhi.
