Without authority from the UCC, Smile telecom discontinued its services in January last year, attracting a fine of up to 10 percent of its gross annual revenue.
The Ugandan High Court’s commercial division has ruled that Smile Communications and American Tower Corp must settle their dispute via arbitration.
According to local outlet The Monitor, an arbitrator will be appointed to the case within 30 days. The case relates to ATC’s disconnecting of Smile’s services in January 2022, following which Smile has been unable to provide services.
Smile requested that the court determine whether ATC’s action constituted an illegal breach of contract, and is seeking UGX7.86 billion (USD2.1 million) in compensation along with an additional settlement for economic distress and damage to goodwill.
ATC has argued that the case should be settled by arbitration as per the terms of its contract with Smile. While the tower firm was initially backed by a previous arbitration hearing, this was later overruled in court.