Sweden-based Ericsson filed a lawsuit with India’s Supreme Court against Reliance Communications (RCom) after it missed a 30 September deadline to pay the vendor INR5.5 billion ($75.3 million) as part of a legal settlement, The Economic Times (ET) reported.

The telecoms equipment vendor filed a contempt of court petition against RCom chairman Anil Ambani after the operator on Friday (28 September) asked for a 60-day extension, which Ericsson didn’t agree to, the newspaper said.

The court in early August approved the troubled operator’s plan to proceed with an INR250 billion asset sale after it settled a legal dispute with Ericsson. RCom had been prevented from completing the sale of wireless and fixed assets to Reliance Jio when an interim order was slapped on the company in March due to the ongoing litigation with the vendor.

Ericsson attempted to recover INR11.56 billion for non-payment of service charges in a prolonged legal battle, but following pressure from authorities the two eventually settled on a sum of INR5.5 billion.

The missed payment means RCom is likely to return to insolvency proceedings, which would jeopardise its sale of assets, including spectrum, to Jio to pay down its huge debt, ET said.

Ericsson filed a bankruptcy petition in September 2017 against the operator in what the vendor described as a “last resort” to resolve the issue.

In mid-August 2018 RCom attracted two bids worth a reported $1.1 billion for its remaining telecoms assets, as the company nears a full withdrawal from the market.