Reliance Communications on Tuesday said it had moved appellate tribunal NCLAT challenging the National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) decision on beginning insolvency proceedings against it on a plea filed by Swedish telecom equipment major Ericsson.
The Anil Ambani-run RCom’s plea is expected to be heard by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in the coming week.
The move comes even as RCom is in “advanced stages of discussions” with Ericsson for settling issues related to unpaid dues (estimated at more than ₹1,000 crore) outside of the insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings.
Subsidiaries in the loop
RCom informed the exchanges it had approached the NCLAT along with two subsidiaries, Reliance Telecom and Reliance Infratel, to stay the order passed by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on May 15.
Ericsson, which had signed a seven-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RCom’s nationwide telecom network had alleged that it had not been paid the bill.
Last September, the Swedish company had filed a petition in the NCLT’s Mumbai bench seeking liquidation of the telecom operator to recover ₹1,150 crore that RCom allegedly owed it.
The admission of the petition could potentially delay RCom’s plans to sell assets to lower its debt, and cast a cloud of uncertainity on its plans of selling wireless assets (spectrum, towers, fibre and nodes) to Reliance Jio.
