This is how much Reliance Communications needs to pay to save chairman Anil Ambani from going to jail

KOLKATA: Reliance Communications(RCom), which must pay Rs 453 crore to Ericsson by Tuesday to save chairman Anil Ambani from a Supreme Court-ordered jail term, is facing more legal woes over pending payment.

An arbitral tribunal has asked the telecom operator and a subsidiary to furnish bank guarantees totalling Rs 16.43 crore to Bharti Infratel on a dispute over terminating contracts with the tower firm in 11 telecom zones. In a separate development, Bharat Sanchar Nigam is set to approach the bankruptcy court to recover some Rs 700 crore in dues.

A BSNL spokesperson said it would approach the National Company Law Tribunal this week. A government official said the arrears were towards interconnect charges — over calls made from RCom’s network to phones on BSNL’s network.

RCom didn’t respond until press time on Sunday to an email seeking comment. The company, which is sitting on about Rs 46,000 crore debt, had earlier defaulted on a Rs 21-crore spectrum payment to the telecom department. Another Rs 281 crore is due to the government next month.

The fee being claimed by Bharti Infratel, listed tower arm of Bharti Airtel, relate to its master services agreement with RCom and Reliance Telecom (RTL) inked in April 2010 for providing passive infrastructure support in 11 circles. Passive infrastructure means provisioning of towers, shelters, diesel gensets, air conditioners and civil/electrical works to house and manage equipment such as antennae.

In its interim order, the arbitral tribunal comprising three retired Supreme Court judges directed RCom and RTL to furnish bank guarantees from a nationalised bank, in favour of Bharti Infratel within four weeks from its ruling dated March 11, 2019.

Bharti Infratel’s claims on account of exit fees and invoice charge amount to Rs 79 crore and Rs 22.92 crore respectively, as per the tribunal’s interim order, a copy of which was seen by ET. In its order, the arbitral tribunal asked the two companies to provide bank guarantees equivalent to 15% of the exit fees and 20% of the invoice charge claimed, collectively amounting to Rs 16.43 crore.

Bharti Infratel declined to comment. People aware of the matter said RCom would likely challenge the interim verdict in Delhi High Court.

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