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Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson filed a contempt of court petition in the Supreme Court against Anil Ambani , chairman of Reliance Communications , after his firm failed to pay Rs 550 crore by the deadline to settle its dispute over dues. RCom had on Friday asked for a 60-day extension to its September 30 (Sunday) deadline to pay Ericsson, which the Swedish firm didn’t agree to, said people familiar with the matter.RCom’s nonpayment of dues could drag the debt-laden telco back into insolvency proceedings, thereby nullifying its spectrum sale deal with Jio , and setting back efforts to pare its Rs 46,000-crore debt.“We have filed a contempt of court petition against Anil Ambani, who had given an undertaking in the Supreme Court that the settlement amount to Ericsson will be paid by September-end,” said Anil Kher, a senior counsel representing Ericsson.One of the people quoted above said Ericsson did not accept RCom’s 60-day deadline extension since it had “already waited a long time to recover its dues”.Ericsson confirmed filing the petition. RCom didn’t respond to emailed queries.The SC will next hear the case on October 4, a day after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal hears the matter. NCLAT had prodded the two parties to arrive at a settlement and set Septemberend as the deadline for RCom to pay Rs 550 crore, around half of what it originally owed Ericsson.The condition was that if RCom failed to pay up it would be hauled back into insolvency proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), and any sale of its assets reversed. This condition meant RCom’s asset-monetisation deals worth Rs 18,000 crore, which mainly included sale of its wireless assets and towers to Jio, could be nixed.So far, RCom has already sold its optic fibre and switching nodes to Jio for Rs 5,000 crore. But its main deal — to sell its spectrum to the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco — is stuck in a legal tussle, with the telecom tribunal hearing RCom’s appeal against the telecom department’s demand for Rs 2,000 crore as spectrum usage charge (SUC) before approving the transaction.On Monday, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) told the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) that nonpayment or non-submission of bank guarantees cannot be a reason for preventing the spectrum sale, potentially clearing a major hurdle in RCom’s sale of airwaves to Jio.The final TDSAT order is expected on October 3. DoT can appeal any adverse order in the Supreme Court. RCom’s deal to sell its 43,000 towers also to Jio, besides selling some real estate to Canada’s Brookfield, is also pending. The battle with the Swedish firm started when Ericsson moved the dedicated bankruptcy court — NCLT — against RCom.The equipment maker alleged that it had signed a seven-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RCom’s nationwide telecom network, but had not been paid dues of more than Rs 1,000 crore. After several months of legal wrangling, RCom managed to stave off the insolvency process by agreeing before the NCLAT to settle its dues with Ericsson for Rs 550 crore, subject to riders. At the same time, the telco also struck a Rs 232-crore settlement with minority shareholders of Reliance Infratel.RCom later filed a special leave petition in the apex court, asking it to stop the insolvency process filed against the company and prevent any challenge to its asset sale. After hearing both sides, the Supreme Court permitted RCom’s asset sale to go on unhindered but directed the company’s management and chairman Anil Ambani to give an undertaking that it will pay Rs 550 crore to Ericsson by September 30.