Tata, DoCoMo settle billion dollar telecom dispute

India’s Tata Sons on Tuesday agreed to pay Japan’s NTT DoCoMo $1.18 billion in regard to the termination of their telecom partnership in the country.
In a statement, Tata Sons said both companies had applied to the Delhi High Court to enforce the compensation ordered by a London arbitration court in June, 2016.
Both companies also agreed to suspend enforcement proceedings in Britain and in the U.S.
The Delhi High Court, which held a hearing on Tuesday, adjourned the matter till March 8 when it will decide on whether to accept the agreement.
The settlement comes days after Natarajan Chandrasekaran was appointed as the chairman of Tata Sons after the company sacked its former Chief, Cyrus Mistry.
In 2014, DoCoMo decided to sell its entire 26.5 per cent stake in Tata Teleservices, a Tata group companies and withdraw from mobile telephony in India.
Tata was unable to find a buyer for the Japanese firm’s stake and offered to buy the stake for half DoCoMo’s $2.2 billion investment; broadcaster NDTV reported giving details of the dispute.
However, India’s Central Bank Nixed Tata’s offer said that rules did not allow foreign investors from selling their stake in Indian firms at a preset price.
DoCoMo then initiated the arbitration in the London court and won the case.
Tata was asked to pay a penalty of over $1 billion which was deposited with the Delhi High Court.