Abu Dhabi, UAE, Wednesday, October 6th 2010 [ME NewsWire]:
An Arbitral Tribunal of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Paris, France rendered a final award in the dispute between Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (“Etisalat”) and Planor Afrique (“Planor”) relating to Etisalat’s Burkina Faso subsidiary, Telecel Faso.
The Arbitral Tribunal upheld Etisalat’s claims that the Memorandum of Agreement (“MOA”) entered into by Etisalat and Planor in September 2007 to settle their dispute regarding Telecel Faso was valid, binding and enforceable and that Planor had breached the MOA.
The Arbitral Tribunal also ordered Planor to take the necessary steps to close the transaction contemplated by the MOA within 60 days as from the notification of the award, on penalty of a €10,000 per day in the way of non-compliance fine as from the 61st day. In addition, the Arbitral Tribunal also awarded Etisalat monetary damages for the losses arising from breach of the MOA.
The MOA was signed by Etisalat (as a substantial stakeholder in Atlantique Telelcom) and Planor in September 2007 to provide a global settlement of the dispute relating to Telecel Faso (in which Planor Afrique was the minority shareholder). The MOA stipulates that Atlantique Telecom will own a 68% stake in Telecel Faso and that Planor Afrique will own a 32% stake. The MOA also provides for the definitive withdrawal of all pending claims between Planor Afrique and Atlantique Telecom relating to Telecel Faso.
Mr. Ahmed Bin Ali, Group Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications of the Etisalat Group, said: “Etisalat notes with satisfaction that the ICC Tribunal has confirmed the binding nature of the settlement agreement reached with Planor Afrique. Etisalat intends to proceed quickly with the implementation of the MOA, so as to facilitate the Group’s plans for significant contributions to the advancement of the telecommunications sector in Burkina Faso.
“We would like to take this opportunity to assure our customers in Burkina Faso that we will introduce world-class value added services to this fast growing nation”, Mr. Bin Ali said.
Etisalat is amongst the largest telecommunications groups in the world and is headquartered in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, operating in 18 countries across Middle East, Africa and Asia, and servicing over 107 million customers out of a total population of approximately 2 billion people. In Africa, Etisalat already has presence and strong and growing operations throughout the African continent including Benin, Central African Republic, Egypt, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania and Togo.
Etisalat is world renowned for the quality of its national networks and customer support. It has been ranked by Alcatel-Lucent as amongst the best in the world in terms of call completion ratio with call disconnect ratios less than 0.36 per cent compared with the global standard of 1 per cent and call blocked ratios of 0.02 per cent in comparison with 2 per cent. Etisalat is rated by Moody’s: Aa2; Standard & Poor’s: A+ and Fitch Ratings: A+.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Iyad AlZoubi ,Senior Manager International Media Relations, Etisalat
Tel: 02 6182173 - 0506123568
Fax: 02 6334448
Email: ialzoubi@etisalat.ae
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