Department of Telecommunications won’t renew licence until RCom clears dues

Mumbai: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has refused to renew Reliance Communications’ (RCom) telecom licence unless it clears its statutory dues of Rs 26,000 crore. If the bankrupt telco fails to do so it will be forced to surrender its spectrum and its asset sale plan under the insolvency process will get derailed.

“DoT has informed RCom that it cannot renew telecom licences unless previous spectrum related dues are cleared. This followed the resolution professional’s (RP) communication to the department that as per Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, its dues come under a moratorium and it does not have to pay them,” said an official aware of the developments.