| Mon 3 May 2004, 17:16 | | TELKOM SA LIMITED - PRETORIA HIGH COURT DISMISSES |
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TELKOM SA LIMITED - PRETORIA HIGH COURT DISMISSES TELCORDIA"S APPLICATION FOR
LEAVE TO APPEAL
TELKOM SA LIMITED
(Registration Number 1991/005476/06)
ISIN ZAE000044897
JSE and NYSE Share Code TKG
("Telkom")
PRETORIA HIGH COURT DISMISSES TELCORDIA"S APPLICATION FOR LEAVE TO APPEAL
The Pretoria High Court today dismissed an application by Telcordia for leave to
appeal a High Court judgment made in favour of Telkom last year, that set aside
a partial award made earlier by an arbitrator in a long-standing dispute between
the parties.
After hearing the application for three days last week, the High Court found
that there was no prospect that another Court would arrive at a different
conclusion from the one that the judge found in his judgment in the review
application on 27 November 2003. The Court also granted a cost order in favour
of Telkom, including costs for two counsel.
A dispute arose between Telcordia and Telkom in 2000, when Telkom terminated its
agreement with Telcordia for the delivery of a fully integrated end-to-end
customer activation and assurance system.
Following the parties" failure to resolve the dispute, Telcordia initiated
arbitration proceedings under the auspices of the International Chamber of
Commerce (ICC) during the first quarter of 2001. In response to Telcordia"s
claims for outstanding amounts and certain out-of-scope services of
approximately $130 million, Telkom counter-claimed against Telcordia for an
amount in excess of $300 million, including a claim for the refund of monies
paid by Telkom to Telcordia.
On 27 September 2002, the arbitrator handed down a partial award in favour of
Telcordia, effectively settling the merits of the dispute between the parties
and notwithstanding a pending Section 20 application (in terms of the
Arbitration Act) in the South African High Court to resolve pertinent legal
issues in the matter. However, Telkom applied to the High Court in South
Africa, sitting at Pretoria, to review and set aside the partial award.
In November 2003 the High Court handed down judgment in favour of Telkom
following the hearing of an extensive six-week review application. In terms of
the court order, the partial award was set aside and the Court ordered that the
matter be heard by a panel of three retired Judges of the Supreme Court of
Appeal in South Africa.
Johannesburg
3 May 2004
Special note regarding forward-looking statements
All statements contained herein, as well as oral statements that may be made by
Telkom or by officers, directors or employees acting on behalf of the Telkom
group, that are not statements of historical fact constitute "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995, specifically Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of
1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause our actual results to be
materially different from historical results or from any future results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Among the factors that
could cause our actual results or outcomes to differ materially from our
expectations are those risks identified under the caption "Risk Factors"
contained in the prospectus relating to Telkom"s initial public offering filed
with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission and available on Telkom"s website
at www.telkom.co.za/ir, including, but not limited to, increased competition in
the South African fixed-line and mobile communications markets; developments in
the regulatory environment; Telkom"s ability to reduce expenditure, the outcome
of arbitration or litigation proceedings with Telcordia Technologies
Incorporated; general economic, political, social and legal conditions in South
Africa and in other countries where Vodacom invests; fluctuations in the value
of the Rand; and other matters not yet known to us or not currently considered
material by us. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements. All written and oral forward-looking statements, attributable to
us, or persons acting on our behalf, are qualified in their entirety by these
cautionary statements. Moreover, unless we are required by law to update these
statements, we will not necessarily update any of these statements after the
date of this press release, either to conform them to actual results or to
changes in our expectations.
