By Yiep Joseph<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
South Sudan has won big in a legal battle against the telecommunications company Vivacell. An international tribunal has ruled in favor of the government, reducing Vivacell\u2019s compensation claim from $2.9 billion to just $48.4 million.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Following its temporary closure in February 2018, Vivacell Network Company demanded that the South Sudanese government pay $2.9 billion for losses incurred.<\/p>\n However, the company subsequently took the government to the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), initiating a legal battle between the Government of South Sudan and Vivacell, also known as Network of the World.<\/p>\n After a series of international court engagements, the South Sudanese government on Monday announced the outcome of the court ruling, stating that it was in their favor.<\/p>\n Addressing journalists on Monday, following a ruling by a Tribunal constituted under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Minister of Information, Communication Technology and Postal Services and government spokesperson, Michael Makuei Lueth, revealed the victory.<\/p>\n \u201cI am pleased to report that the tribunal’s decision and arbitration have substantially reduced the amount claimed against us,” Makuei explained. “Initially, the amount was $2.9 billion, but with the efforts of our capable legal team, we managed to defeat the case.”<\/p>\n \u201cThere were 17 points raised to justify their claim of $2.9 billion. Out of these 17 points, we won 12, leaving a balance of only five points from all the claims that were raised to support the case. As a result, the final award came out as $48,452,035. This is the amount that was settled in the arbitration,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The Minister commended the legal team for their tireless efforts in securing this legal victory for the country, marking a significant first.<\/p>\n “We take pride in our legal team, which worked tirelessly to defend the interests of our nation,” he said. “This decision not only validates our resolve but also demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that South Sudan\u2019s laws are upheld and respected.”<\/p>\n Vivacell, which operated in South Sudan under the commercial name Vivacell for Network of the World (NOW), was primarily owned by Lebanon\u2019s Fattouch Investment Group, holding a 75% stake. The remaining 25% was owned by Wawat Securities, a company linked to the Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Movement (SPLM), South Sudan\u2019s dominant political party.<\/p>\n The telecom company had its license suspended by the South Sudanese government on March 20, 2018, with a directive to cease all operations within one week, effective by midnight on March 27, 2018.<\/p>\n The shutdown was attributed to the company\u2019s alleged failure to comply with government regulations, including non-payment of $66 million in license fees and taxes.<\/p>\n International calls and texts were suspended immediately, while all services, including national traffic, were fully shut down by March 27, 2018.<\/p>\n This affected approximately 900,000 subscribers, the largest customer base a telecom firm had at the time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Yiep Joseph South Sudan has won big in a legal battle against the telecommunications company Vivacell. An international tribunal has ruled in favor of the government, reducing Vivacell\u2019s compensation claim from $2.9 billion to just $48.4 million. Following its temporary closure in February 2018, Vivacell Network Company demanded[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":36018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Victory.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36017"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36037,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36017\/revisions\/36037"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}