India's Reliance Communications has received approval to pursue an IPO of its subsea cable business and a listing on the Singapore exchange.
Singapore Exchange Securities Trading has granted the operator's Singapore business trust an eligibility to list, RCom revealed in a statement.
The operator first revealed it was evaluating taking its subsea cable operations public via a listing of a Singapore trust company in April.
RCom has provided scant details so far in public announcements, but sources familiar with the IPO told India's Business Standard that the IPO could be launched in July.
The company is seeking to raise roughly $1 billion from the offer, and could divest as much as 75% of its stake in the division.
RCom's subsea cable subsidiary, Reliance Globalcom, owns and operates a subsea cable network spanning 65,000 km. Together with RCom's terrestrial fiber network, the Globalcom network spans 40 countries.
For RCom, the IPO could be necessary to help the company reduce its $7 billion debt burden.
The company has been trying since last year to sell its Indian tower assets to raise funds, but after an initial deal fell through, the company appears to have had trouble finding any other takers.