RCom's ₹500B crisis: Jio killed the business, Ericsson sued, the founder held in contempt

Reliance Communications was founded in 2004 by Anil Ambani as part of the Reliance empire split between the Ambani brothers. It grew rapidly to become India's second-largest telecommunications operator by subscriber count, offering 2G, 3G, and 4G services across India. At its peak, RCom held a significant share of India's fast-growing mobile market and was the flagship of Anil Ambani's business group.

The collapse began in September 2016 when Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio launched with aggressive pricing — free voice calls and data priced at a fraction of incumbents' rates. RCom's revenue model was destroyed almost overnight. In a desperate move, RCom announced a merger with Aircel to create India's fourth-largest telco and repay ₹250 billion in debt — but the deal collapsed in October 2017 due to regulatory delays.

By December 2017, RCom had discontinued voice services entirely and laid off all 3,000 wireless and DTH employees. Swedish equipment maker Ericsson filed a case with the NCLT to recover ₹11 billion in unpaid dues. In February 2019, RCom filed for bankruptcy with estimated total debt of ₹500 billion against assets worth only ₹180 billion. The Supreme Court held Anil Ambani in contempt for failing to pay Ericsson, and his elder brother Mukesh provided a ₹4.63 billion bailout to settle the debt.

In 2022, Reliance Jio acquired RCom's assets for ₹3,720 crore. In July 2025, the State Bank of India classified RCom's loan account as fraud, ordering Anil Ambani's name reported to the Reserve Bank of India. The company that was once valued in the tens of billions had effectively ceased to exist.