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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.