The Arbitration Court of the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce ruled a 13-year unsolved claim in favor of the Colombian State over the refusal to reverse assets used for the first mobile phone concession in the country. Two of the largest telecommunications companies in Colombia: Movistar and Claro would have to pay within a period of 15 days an estimated sum of 4.7 trillion pesos.
This amount was disclosed by the arbitration award made by the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá, the award obligates to pay 3.1 trillion pesos to Comcel (Claro) and 1.6 to Telefónica (Movistar). It could be considered the most important ruling in history in favor of the Colombian nation by the large number that these two companies have to pay.
The Minister of Telecommunications, David Luna, was the one who lifted the petition in February last year to form a tribunal before the Center for Conciliation and Arbitration of the CCB.
In 2013 the Comptroller announced that both companies should return the implemented networks agreed when they started their contracts.
Additionally, another important precedent was the renegotiation in advance of the terms of extension of the year 2004 through the law 422 of 1998, and reconfirmed with Law 1341 of 2009.
The legal debate focused on defining the scope of the reversal, which assets involved, the value and period.
The reason why the original contracts were not modified was because the reversion was remain in force. Sentence C-555 of August 22, 2013 reaffirmed that reversion clauses prior to current standards should be respected.
According to the Ministry of Communications, the summons to the arbitration court was intended to protect public assets and ensure the provision of the service.