RCom Clears Rs 458 Crore Outstanding Dues to Ericsson, Fends Off Possible Jail Term for Anil Ambani

A day before the expiry of Supreme Court set deadline, Reliance Communications on Monday paid Rs 458.77 crore to Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson, clearing outstanding dues and fending-off a possible jail term for its billionaire Chairman Anil Ambani. Sources close to RCom said the payment was made to Ericsson Monday evening, a day before the four-week deadline set by the Supreme Court to clear dues expires. An Ericsson spokesperson confirmed that the telecom gear maker had received the full payment from the Reliance Communications (Rs 458.7 crore) on Monday and Rs 118 crore previously. The amount paid by RCom also includes interest.

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Source of funds for the payment was not immediately known and it was expected that RCom would come out with a statement on the issue soon.

The Supreme Court had last month held Ambani in contempt for not paying Ericsson’s dues despite promising to do so. It had threatened to send the billionaire as well as Chhaya Virani and Satish Seth – chairmen of two RCom units, to jail if they fail to pay the dues in four weeks.

Ericsson had moved a bankruptcy court in 2017 alleging it had not been paid dues of around Rs 1,600 crore after signing a deal in 2013 to operate, maintain and manage the telco’s nationwide network. It extracted a personal guarantee from Ambani to pay the dues.

But repeated failure by RCom to comply with the promise and Ambani’s personal guarantee landed him in trouble last month when the Supreme Court held him in contempt.