RCOM to address debt problems next year

Indian telco Reliance Communications (RCOM) will renew efforts to ease its debt burden next year with a second attempt at selling off its submarine cable arm. The company’s chairman was cited by Reuters as saying that that telco would also explore other options for reducing its debt, including selling a stake in its mobile tower arm. As noted by TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, RCOM’s attempts to divest part of its towerco Reliance Infratel have dragged on since 2008 and were most recently put on hold in May 2012 due to the regulatory uncertainty surrounding the market in the wake of the mass cancellation of 2G concessions in February. Meanwhile, RCOM was forced to shelve plans for an initial public offering (IPO) for its submarine cable unit in July this year when the sale failed to attract enough interest from investors.