Turkish mobile operator Turkcell has announced it is filing a lawsuit in the US against South Africa-based telecoms group MTN in relation to a licence agreement between Iran and MTN in 2005.
“Newly received information by Turkcell indicates the…
Turkish mobile operator Turkcell has announced it is filing a lawsuit in the US against South Africa-based telecoms group MTN in relation to a licence agreement between Iran and MTN in 2005.
“Newly received information by Turkcell indicates the signing of the licence agreement with MTN instead of our company was a consequence of MTN’s actions at that time,” Turkcell said in a statement today.
The Turkish operator did not provide more details about “MTN’s actions” and MTN declined to comment on the news.
But in a statement dated 12 March, MTN had said that “Turkcell had threatened MTN with litigation in the United States alleging claims of corruption in relation to MTN’s bid to participate in the second mobile phone network in Iran.”
It also claimed at the time that it had set up an independent investigation to look into the allegations but that Turkcell had refused to cooperate.
Meanwhile, Turkcell said it had previously conducted settlement discussions with MTN but the latter terminated the discussions in March through a public announcement.
As for the choice of the US to file the lawsuit, Turkcell justified it by saying that “both companies have extensive business dealings in the United States” and that the allegations are about MTN breaching “rules of international law”.
MTN is present in Iran via mobile operator Irancell, in which it holds a 49% stake. The rest is controlled by Iran Electronic Development Company (IEDC).
The lawsuit against MTN comes shortly US lobby group ‘United Against Nuclear Iran’ asked MTN to withdraw from Iran.