Swan, the telecom operator which received the license to start services last year, is under the lens of the telecom authorities. The reason – the ownership structure of the operator goes against the rules set by the governing bodies. Here’s the scenario in simple terms:
- According to the guidelines, a telecom operator cannot hold more than 10% stake in another operator.
- Reliance holds about 10% stake in the company, with the other investor being Tiger Traders.
- It is learnt that the Board of the latter(Tiger) has Reliance employees.
- Also, Reliance had also given a huge lot of redeemable preference shares to Swan, which might have an impact on their stake.
Reliance, however, states that it has a 9.9% stake, which adheres to the regulations. Currently, the DoT has asked the MCA or the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to look into the matter.