IN AN ongoing power battle, the Hong Kong-backed bidder for South Africa’s third mobile phone licence, Nextcom, launched an urgent court action to prevent Saudi-backed consortium Cell-C from winning the lucrative licence.
The court action seeks to prevent Telecoms Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri from endorsing a recommendation by Satra to pick Cell-C, said Nextcom’s spokesperson.
The legal challenge would be heard this week in the Pretoria High Court. Another of the five losing contenders, Swedish and Norwegian-backed Afrozone-Telai/Telenor, has also said it will sue for damages for the time and money it wasted in bidding for the licence.