In a significant move, country's second largest mobile-phone operator, Reliance Communications (RCom) has decided to repurchased US $ 5 Million (about Rs 25.26 crore) foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) at discount from the international markets.

In a disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Mumbai based company, owned by Anil Ambani said that it has bought back 50 zero coupon FCCBs aggregating Rs 25.26 crore.

The filing further added that the repurchased bonds are expected to extinguish on April 15, 2009.

It can be recalled that country's central bank, RBI in 2008 had given the permission to the corporate houses to buyback FCCBs from the foreign markets provided they are trading at a discount of 25 per cent from their book value.

At present, Reliance serves, with its wireless network, fully digital voice and high-speed data spread over 20000 towns and 6 lakh rural hamlets, which constitute 95% of the country’s population.