Govt to Pay Alcatel-Lucent US$87mn for Telecom Contract
Colombia's government will pay equipment supplier Alcatel-Lucent US$87mn that the formerly state-owned operator Telecom owed the French company for a 2004 contract to install 300,000 fixed lines, local newspaper La República reported.
Telecom has since been sold to Spain's Telefónica and renamed Telefónica Telecom. With the agreement, the government finishes the liquidation of the former telco's assets.
Alcatel has been demanding a payment of US$320mn since 2004, but an arbitration court assigned by Bogotá's commercial chamber awarded only US$87mn.
The government has had to negotiate payments with several foreign companies, which apart from Alcatel-Lucent, also include equipment suppliers such as Sweden's Ericsson, Canada's Nortel and Germany's Siemens."
Posted to the site on 10th May 2007
