Tata Group pays off dues of TTSL to close sale of consumer mobile business

Tata Group has settled the stipulated dues owed to lenders and the government, estimated to be roughly Rs 50,000 crore, to complete the sale of consumer mobile business to Bharti Airtel.

"All debt obligations of Tata Teleservices have been repaid as per the schedule," a Tata Sons spokesperson said responding to a PTI query.

The spokesperson declined to comment on the specifics, but an official privy to the development said that the payment to lenders and Department of Telecom was roughly to the tune of Rs 50,000 crore and added that the payments were made over a period of time.

Earlier this month, a joint statement issued by Airtel and Tata Teleservices had said that the consumer mobile business of Tata Teleservices has now become part of the Sunil Mittal-promoted telecom company.

The schemes of arrangement regarding the merger of the consumer mobile businesses of Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) into Bharti Airtel and Bharti Hexacom (Airtel) have become effective from July 1, 2019, the previous statement had said.

The merger will bolster Airtel's spectrum pool with significant additional 178.5 MHz spectrum in 1800, 2100 and 850 MHz bands, widely used for 4G. The merger includes transfer of all the customers and assets of Tata Teleservices consumer mobile business to Airtel.