Arbitration between British Telecom and Vivendi on the Vizzavi portal
Expertise : Litigation & Telecommunications
Business challenge
- Vivendi, a shareholder of Cegetel, and Vodafone worked together to develop a content distribution portal (Vizzavi). British Telecom, another shareholder of Cegetel, claimed that Vivendi’s collaboration with one of its competitors caused British Telecom a damage estimated at €500m.
- The dispute was brought before the International Court of Arbitration, and Laurent Benzoni of TERA Consultants acted as an expert for Vivendi.
Approach
- TERA Consultants has shown that the creation of the Vizzavi portal, far from destroying the value of SFR (and therefore its shareholders), was instead likely to benefit the operator.
- Laurent Benzoni's contribution consisted of an pedagogic presentation of the Internet economy, the future development of value chains and the role of content in the strategy of a telecommunications operator.
Benefits and results
The arbitration was in favour of Vivendi, and the claim brought by British Telecom was dismissed.