He National Government announced this Thursday that it will request the annulment of an international arbitration award that ordered it to pay almost 380 million dollars plus interest to the Spanish telecommunications company Telephone.
“You can request cancellation“of the decision”In fact, we are going to ask for it. We have 120 days to use that resource“said the Minister of Technology, Information and Telecommunications, Mauricio Lizcanoto Blu Radio.
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On Wednesday Telefónica announced that the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruled in favor of him in a lawsuit over the use of public telecommunications infrastructure during the deployment of his mobile telephone network in Colombia since 1994.
Movistar is one of the main brands of the Telefónica company.
According to Lizcano, the Spanish company signed an agreement in 1994 to operate in the country with the condition of “return the infrastructure“used to provide its services at the end of the concession. Telefónica refused to deliver the equipment and in July 2017 a Colombian administrative court sentenced it to pay 380 million dollars for the use of public infrastructure..
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In its recent decision, the ICSID, attached to the World Bankconsidered “that Colombia failed to comply with its obligation to provide fair and equitable treatment“to the Spanish company.
As a consequence of this, The Colombian State must pay 380 million dollars to Telefónicapay 5% of that amount in interest and cover the legal expenses that the company had to face.
Telephone.
Lizcano estimated that The total payment is around 500 million dollars. Only 5% of annulment requests before the ICSID have been successful, according to official data.
He Claro telecommunications group, owned by Mexican magnate Carlos Slimwas the subject of a similar conviction in Colombia in 2017. “We have to give the debate (on arbitration) to the end because this would set a bad precedent for Colombia“warned the minister.
AFP
