The bankruptcy court had, in a separate insolvency proceeding for Aircel , ruled that the CoC can sell airwaves, rejecting a telecom department plea. The government wanted the spectrum to be returned to it due to unpaid dues, saying it was the owner of the airwaves, and not the telcos. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is expected to challenge the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order soon.Bharti Airtel has made the highest bid of Rs 9,000 crore and has offered upfront payment but wants all the assets and not parts of it, said the people cited above. Top overseas lenders include China Development Bank (Rs 9,900 crore), Exim Bank of China (over Rs 3,356 crore) and Standard Chartered Bank (Mumbai and London, Rs 2,100 crore).Besides banks, operational creditors such as tower companies, equipment vendors and DoT have claimed nearly Rs 30,000 crore in dues, of which over Rs 21,000 crore has been verified. By contrast, in the case of Aircel, the resolution plan has earmarked just about Rs 16.5 crore for hundreds of operational creditors, which had claimed about Rs 20,000 crore in dues.

Source: Economic Times January 01, 2020 14:03 UTC