Spanish carrier Airtel, a recent acquisition of Vodafone, was getting royally stomped through unfair practices by dominator Telefonica back in ’99, and had successfully won their Supreme Court complaint in 2006. To date, however, they still haven’t received compensation, which could be worth upwards of €670 million ($940 million). Vodafone says it still might take a couple of years to figure a final number, but when the stakes are that high, you can hardly blame the courts for being extra-careful. We might not see much of Telefonica here in North America, but don’t be fooled, they’re heavy-duty. Last year, they had reported 23.2 million subscribers, versus Vodafone’s 15 million. I’d be curious to hear what strategies in particular Telefonica was employing to gain unfair advantage. It would have to be something awfully underhanded in order to demand that much compensation…
[via cellular-news]