Reliance Jio (Rjio) has asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to approve its spectrum trading deal with Reliance Communications (RCom) only after it has made sure the latter has paid up all its past liabilities as per the licence conditions.

In a letter to the DoT, RJio has stated that though RCom has offered a corporate guarantee of ₹1,400 crore towards settling its dues, the licence conditions stipulate that it should also give a bank guarantee. RJio has said that it will not be liable to pay RCom dues should the DoT accept a corporate guarantee instead of a bank guarantee.

Industry experts said the RJio letter could further delay the spectrum trading deal as the DoT may now have to review the RCom offer to pay corporate guarantees. However, legal experts said the deal could still go through as RCom has taken the Supreme Court approval to pay a corporate guarantee. Recently, a Bench headed by Justice Rohinton F Nariman directed Reliance Realty, a unit of RCom, to furnish a corporate guarantee of ₹1,400 crore and directed the DoT to approve the spectrum deal with RJio.