The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has finally cleared Vodafone Essar's proposal to divest its mobile towers and other related infrastructure into a separate arm, Ortus Infratel.

Under the proposal, two of Vodafone Essar's Mauritius-based subsidiaries, Vodafone Tower Holdings and Essar Infratel, would acquire 100 per cent stake in Ortus Infratel. Vodafone Essar's proposal was rejected twice earlier following the Department of International Taxation's concerns that Vodafone was trying to take advantage of the India-Mauritius double taxation avoidance agreement by transferring the operations to a Mauritius-based company. The FIPB has also cleared Vodafone Essar's applications for national long distance (NLD), international long distance (ILD) and ISP licences.