Reliance Communications draws down ECB of US$ 255 Mn (Rs 1155 Cr) for 3G Spectrum Refinancing
Second tranche of $ 1.33 Bn refinancing expected from CDB / other banks shortly
3G Spectrum refinancing of US$ 1.585 Bn already approved by RBI
ECB provided by the consortium of banks; ANZ, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, DBS and Intesa Sanpaolo
RCOM to benefit from extension of maturity and interest cost savings
Mumbai, January 18, 2011: Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) has today drawn down US$ 255 Million (Rs. 1155 Cr) by way of External Commercial Borrowing to part refinance rupee resources used for 3G Spectrum fee payment to the Department of Telecommunications (DOT), Government of India. This loan is funded by a consortium of banks led by Australian and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, DBS Bank Limited and Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.a.
RCOM will benefit from extension of maturity, and substantial savings in interest costs from this facility.
In addition to the above, RCOM had earlier signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CDB on December 15, 2010 during the visit of the Chinese Prime Minister to India, to refinance US$ 1.33 Bn paid for 3G Spectrum to DOT. The MoU also covers financing of up to US$ 600 million towards equipment and services to be procured from Chinese Vendors like ZTE Corporation and Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. These facilities will be funded by CDB and other Chinese Banks / Financial Institutions, and their approval and draw down is expected soon.
About Reliance Communications:
Reliance Communications Limited founded by the late Shri Dhirubhai H Ambani (1932-2002) is the flagship company of the Reliance Group. The Reliance Group currently has a net worth in excess of Rs. 64,000 crore (US$ 13.6 billion), cash flows of Rs. 13,000 crore (US$ 2.8 billion), net profit of Rs. 8,400 crore (US$ 1.8 billion).
Reliance Communications is India's foremost and truly integrated telecommunications service provider. The Company, with a customer base of over 124 million including over 2.5 million individual overseas retail customers, ranks among the Top 4 Telecom companies in the world by number of customers in a single country. Reliance Communications corporate clientele includes 2,100 Indian and multinational corporations, and over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers.
Reliance Communications has established a pan-India, next generation, integrated (wireless and wireline), convergent (voice, data and video) digital network that is capable of supporting best-of-class services spanning the entire communications value chain, covering over 24,000 towns and 600,000 villages. Reliance Communications owns and operates the world's largest next generation IP enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 277,000 kilometers of fibre optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.
