\tA tribunal instructed Reliance Communications (RCom) to pay Bharti Infratel INR392 million ($5.7 million) for pulling out of infrastructure sharing agreements with the tower company, The Economic Times (ET) reported.<\/p>\n
The decision by arbitrators adds to the mounting financial problems of the troubled operator, which all but exited the Indian mobile market in 2017.<\/p>\n
It signed ten year deals to use 504 of Bharti Infratel\u2019s towers across India in 2010 and 2015, the newspaper said.<\/p>\n
RCom told the tribunal it did not voluntarily exit the sites, but was forced to due to \u201cunforeseen circumstances that made it impossible for it to continue\u201d, ET wrote.<\/p>\n
The operator had a net debt of INR465 billion at end-March and still faces the possibility of insolvency proceedings as it is involved in a number of legal battles with creditors.<\/p>\n
Last month RCom settled a long-standing row with Ericsson [1], paying INR4.6 billion owed to the Swedish vendor relating to service charges.<\/p>\n
RCom reached a deal to sell off the majority of its mobile assets to Reliance Jio in 2017, but the sale was never finalised.<\/p>\n
Market leader Vodafone Idea also faces possible charges for reducing the number of tenancies per site after its merger [2]. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, the largest tower companies in India, in January claimed the operator owes [3] them a total of INR45 billion.<\/p>\n
Indus Towers is a joint venture between Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea\u2019s two major shareholders.<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/rcom-under-pressure-on-eve-of-ericsson-deadline\/
\n[2] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/asia\/asia-news\/vodafone-idea-touts-integration-progress\/
\n[3] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/asia\/asia-news\/vodafone-idea-facing-tower-fees-claim\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A tribunal instructed Reliance Communications (RCom) to pay Bharti Infratel INR392 million ($5.7 million) for …<\/p>\n
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