Reliance Communications (RCom) must pay Ericsson INR5.5 billion ($76.6 million) by the end of tomorrow (15 December) after India’s Supreme Court turned down a plea for more time, The Economic Times reported.

At the court hearing, the Swedish vendor’s legal representative said failure to receive the funds by the deadline would result in the renewal of an insolvency order against RCom and contempt of court proceedings.

The former mobile operator has already missed the original payment deadline of 30 September and in October was given a final date of 15 December to make the payment by the Supreme Court.

Its earlier extension was granted due to a delay in finalising the sale of a range of assets to Reliance Jio.

However, the sale of its wireless assets has still not been completed, due partly to a delay in receiving approval for the transfer of spectrum licences by the country’s Department of Telecommunications. The green light on the sale is widely expected early next week.

Courtroom battle
The Ericsson-RCom settlement figure of INR5.5 billion followed a legal battle lasting almost a year, which included Ericsson filing a bankruptcy petition against Rcom while chasing INR11.56 billion in unpaid service charges.

RCom’s debt to Ericsson is part of a massive deficit built up by the company, which it planned to address by selling INR250 billion-worth of assets from its now defunct wireless business.

Although it exited the consumer mobile sector, RCom is continuing in B2B services including fixed line communications, data centre services and wholesale communications infrastructure.