Wataniya vindicated in Tunisiana suit

The International Arbitration Tribunal has ruled that National Mobile Telecommunications Co (more commonly known as Wataniya), in which Qatar Telecom (Qtel) owns a 51% stake, is not required to sell its 50% stake in Tunisian cellco Tunisiana to partner Orascom. The court also ruled that Wataniya does not have to pay any damages in relation to the dispute. ‘The award concludes that although Wataniya did not respect the right to propose the appointment of Tunisiana’s board chairman, this breach itself was not sufficient to require Wataniya to transfer its 50% shareholding to Orascom,’ Qtel said in a statement. Kuwait Projects Co (KIPCO) which led a consortium that sold the Wataniya stake to Qtel said that under the ruling it would receive an additional KWD89.4 million (USD328 million).