23 November 2022

India’s National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has cleared the proposed acquisition of Reliance Infratel (RITL) by Jio’s infrastructure subsidiary Reliance Property and Projects Management Services.

RITL has around 178,000km of fibre assets across India as well as 43,540 mobile towers. To complete the acquisition, Jio must deposit NR37.2 billion into a State Bank of India (SBI) escrow account.

RITL is the infrastructure unit of Reliance Communications (RCOM), which has been mired in bankruptcy proceedings for years, with creditors clashing with local authorities – particularly regarding its spectrum licences. India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has argued that RCOM does not have the authority to sell its spectrum licences to resolve its bankruptcy process.