A Kenyan court has reportedly rejected a petition filed by Kenyan dealer TechnoService which is seeking Sh150-million ($257,832.60) from cellphone manufacturer Nokia for allegedly selling some of its businesses to Microsoft which, according to the company, was a breach of contract.

According to Business Daily, the presiding judge dismissed the application by TechnoService, saying that the courts cannot interfere with proceedings before arbitration. The judge pointed out that the two parties were referred to arbitration in September 2021, in line with a specific clause in their agreement.

“In the circumstances, granting leave to appeal will delay the resolution of the dispute which parties had committed to avoid when they opted for arbitration,” Justice Chacha Mwita said.

TechnoService took the case to court in 2020, seeking $257,832.60 from Nokia, accusing the Finnish firm of breaching a 2006 partnership deal. The Kenyan firm claims that it lost earnings after a number of Nokia Service Centres it allegedly established jointly with Nokia were taken over by Microsoft.

When the case was referred to arbitration last year, TechnoService reportedly opposed the order saying that the arbitration clauses that were relied upon were unconstitutional.

TechnoService reportedly claims that it was coerced into investing in the deal by establishing Nokia care branded service centers across the country which were later transferred to Microsoft without its consent.

It added that the deals enabled the growth of Nokia’s business in Kenya from revenue of $10-million in 2006 to $150-million in 2013.

“The plaintiff avers that the 1st defendants and 4th defendants’ employees admitted and acknowledged, by way of correspondence and letters, the plaintiffs’ contribution to its success in Kenya,” court documents stated.


By Zintle Nkohla 

Follow Zintle Nkohla on Twitter

Follow IT News Africa on Twitter

Sign Up for Our Newsletters

Get notified of the best deals on our WordPress themes.

You May Also Like

UBA & Cellulant Join Forces to Unite Africa’s Payments Ecosystem

Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa (UBA), and Cellulant, a leading Pan-African payments company, have announced a partnership that will extend payment services for merchants and consumers across 19 key African…
View Post

Paratus Expands to DRC, Connects 620KM Fibre Optic Line

Telecommunications firm Paratus Group has announced its expansion into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This coincides with the news that Paratus has won, together with DRC based Global Broadband…
View Post

MTN SA Invests $46.4-Million in New Infrastructure for KZN, South Africa

Africa’s largest telecom group MTN SA has announced a further investment of $46.4-million (R700-million) in order to modernise existing, and deploy new, network infrastructure across the KwaZulu-Natal province in South…
View Post

Here’s How Much MTN Spent During the ICASA Spectrum Auction

MTN announced on Thursday that it had secured the high-demand spectrum required for its 4G and 5G network expansion drive from the highly anticipated ICASA spectrum auction. ICASA announced that…
View Post

Top 5 Games to Look Out for in 2022

Gamers have a lot to look forward to in 2022 – what with the release of many highly anticipated titles and DLCs across all platforms. Whether you enjoy journeying through…
View Post

South Africa’s Dis-Chem Takes a Swing at WhatsApp Commerce

Clickatell, a CPaaS innovator and Chat Commerce leader, has been selected by leading South African retailer, Dis-Chem Pharmacies, to enable WhatsApp as its customer communication channel to engage with its…
View Post