Telecom firms dip into parents' pockets for debt bailout

RCom has to pay its lenders over Rs 40,000 crore and in many ways has been a test case among telecom companies

As lenders open the bidding for assets of Reliance Communications (RCom) this week, telecom companies appear to have fared much better in cleaning up their debt books than steel companies. The total debt of the telecom companies that is facing stress is over Rs 1 lakh crore.  

While RCom is selling assets, Tata Teleservices has the backing of its group, which has agreed to pay back its debts rather than ask banks to take a haircut on their loans. Telenor and Sistema, foreign telecom companies with deep pockets, have written off their losses and repaid their loans before leaving