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| Shivan Bhargava (COO) |
The giant mobile phone service provider Airtel is in the
middle of a serious for interest between it and Essar Telcom Company of Kenya.
Essar Telcom Company is suing Airtel for 22 million US dollar. The reason is
said to be the fact that Airtel has failed to meet the agreement between the
companies. Essar complains recently their companies have been a target of
frequent site failures which make them to lose their credibility to their
customers and fail to deliver reliable services. The situation has left the
customers not able to send SMS and using other data services.
Airtel leased certain sites to Essar but the operator is
claiming there are a lot of system failures. Essar Telcom (also known as Yu
Mobile) and Airtel signed the agreement in 2009, but both parties accuse the
other of non-delivery. In the latest development, Airtel has threatened to cut
Essar Telcom’s connectivity and Essar is claiming $22-million (Sh1.9-billion Kenyan shillings)
from Airtel.
The case will be heard before Kenya’s High Court judge
Daniel Musinga on 20 July. Airtel are expected to raise their claims also about
unspecified damages caused by Essar and requires a compensation of 3 million US
dollar from their rivals. Essar claims to lost 34 batteries from the leased
sites in which according to them Airtel were supposed to be the care takers and
provide security to them.
Kenyan Correspondent.