Reliance Communications lays out debt resolution plan

Reuters
A man speaks on his mobile phone as he walks past a closed shop painted with an advertisement of Reliance Communications in Mumbai, India, January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/Files

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Indian telecoms company Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) will propose a plan to sell its telecom infrastructure assets, airwaves and real estate to resolve its debt, the firm said on Sunday.

RCom, controlled by businessman Anil Ambani, last week said it will seek fast-track resolution through India's National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

The company's current debt to lenders stands at 380 billion rupees ($5.32 billion) of which it owes 198 billion to local lenders and 182 billion rupees to foreign lenders, a spokesman for RCom told Reuters.

The company said its new proposal resembles a previous plan, which was hampered however by a lack of regulatory approvals and legal battles.

It expressed confidence on Sunday that its "substantial unsustainable debt and liabilities" would be extinguished under the NCLT process and it would be able to overcome challengesraised by minority lenders.

RCom has reported a string of losses during a price war triggered by the market entry of Reliance Industries' telecoms venture Jio Infocomm, owned by Mukesh Ambani - Asia's richest person and Anil Ambani's older brother.

($1 = 71.4200 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)