The Ministry of Law has given it go ahead to the Rs 7 billion deal between Airtel and Loop, subject to the condition that there is no ban on a slump sale in the telecom licence conditions.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has already stated that there is no bar on a slump sale under the existing licence conditions. Therefore, the opinion given by the Law Ministry could result into completion of the deal between the two operators.

Earlier, the deal could not be concluded after there were differences between the view of DoT and THE Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), relating to whether an operator’s subscribers could be transferred to another operator without subscribers’consent.

In February 2014, Airtel had announced the acquisition of Loop Mobile’s three million subscribers in Mumbai along with company’s infrastructure in the circle. Loop Mobile was unable to acquire spectrum during the auctions held in February 2014. Winning back spectrum was important for Loop as its 20-year licence is due for expiration in November 2014, after which it will not be able to continue services.

Airtel, on the other hand, won spectrum in Mumbai in the latest round of auctions. The slump-sale deal with Airtel came as a relief to Loop subscribers, who were assured of service continuity.

However, TRAI had raised concerns over the transfer of Loop subscribers to Airtel without subscriber consent and stated that such a shift must be enabled through the mobile number portability system.