NEW DELHI: The telecom department has approved the merger of Reliance Communications and Sistema Shyam Telecom Limited ( SSTL ), which operates the MTS brand in nine circles in India, two sources aware of the development said. The department, which was the final authority to give a nod to the merger, gave a go-ahead on October 20, following which operations of the Russian backed carrier which has 4 million users, will be transferred to the Anil Ambani owned carrier. “The DoT issued the letter on October 20,” said one of the sources aware of the development that took place last week. RCom and SSTL didn’t immediately comment. RCom’s stock on the Bombay Stock Exchange has risen 7.29% to Rs 17.65 as of 1 pm on Monday. The deal, which is valued at Rs 5,000 crore, would provide RCom with 3.75 MHz of highly valuable spectrum in 850 MHZ band in Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, UP (West), Kolkata, West Bengal and Rajasthan. SSTL has spectrum holding...