Reliance Jio wants to fast-track the process of acquiring the fiber and tower assets of Reliance Communications or Rcom. The company had placed the bid to acquire the crucial infrastructure assets of bankrupt Rcom in 2019. Reliance Infratel is the company that Jio’s subsidiary Reliance Projects and Property Management Services is in the process of acquiring. Jio’s subsidiary has deposited Rs 3720 crore in an escrow account and proposed for the acquisition of Reliance Infratel to be completed. The bid made by Mukesh Ambani-owned company was the winner back in 2019. Now Jio doesn’t want to delay the acquisition any further. Thus, according to a PTI report, Reliance Projects and Property Management Services wrote an application to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) saying that the company is committed to and is willing to implement the resolution plan of Reliance Infratel, which was approved by the committee of creditors earlier. Jio’s subsidiary has proposed to deposit the said amount in a State Bank of India (SBI) account to complete the transaction. If there are any more delays, Jio is afraid that the value of the assets will fall because of inter-creditors disputes. Reliance Infratel has around 1.78 lakh route kilometres worth of fibre assets and 43,540 mobile towers across the nation. All the fibre and tower assets of Rcom are under the holding company Reliance Infratel. Once the transaction of assets is complete, Jio will own more infrastructure assets which will help the telco in its expansion plans across the nation. The funds will be distributed amongst the creditors from the account once the dispute over who will get how much is over. Jio is looking to roll out 5G fast in the nation, and for that, it would require more infrastructure assets. Jio plans to roll out 5G across the nation by December 2023, which is around 14 months from here.
