Competition Commission clears RCom-Aircel merger

Anil Ambani Group said the Competition Commission of India has cleared the merger of its telecom unit Reliance Communications with the wireless operations of Aircel Cellular, owned by Maxis Berhad of Malaysia.

The clearance was expected since the two companies have very small market shares.

The deal had got approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India or SEBI earlier this month.

It has to now get the nod of the court as well as the Company Law Board.

Aircel also faces a lawsuit in the Supreme Court that could have an impact on the merger.

The merger is expected to create one of the top four mobile operators in India and help the two companies launch 4G services and withstand competition from the likes of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea and Reliance Jio.

Both RCom and Aircel have seen big erosion in revenue in the last few months due to hyper competition set off by the introduction of 4G services, which have brought down data and voice prices.