A subsidiary of Vodafone, Kabel Deutschland won the trial against Deutsche Telekom on Tuesday as the court overturn the lower court ruling. The Federal Court referred the case back to court fo re-trial.
The case involved a dispute of 400 million euros ($430 million) of cable network rental fee from Deutsche Telekom to Vodafone group’s Kabel Deutschland. Deutsche Telekom was sued for overcharged the rental as reported by Reuters. Deutsche Telekom built the cable network which was used by Vodafone before being spun off due to the privatization.
Vodafone spokeperson said that Federal Court of Justice, the highest federal court in Germany, ruled to overturn the ruling from the lower court. She said that the ruling showed that the court agreed with Vodafone view on overcharged fee.
“Telekom is abusing its dominant position with the high rental fees for the use of cable ducts," the spokesperson said.
The ruling from the highest tribunal in Germany made the case to be referred back to the regional court for re-trial as reported by Bloomberg. Deutsche Telekom is confident the designated regional court will rule in favor of the company once again.
Vodafone Group offered €7.7 billion to take over Kabel Deutschland in late 2013 which higher than other bidder. The European Commission approved the takeover in September and the deal was finalized in January 2014. Vodafone now owned the 76 percent share of Kabel Deutschland following the takeover.
Kabel Deutschland operated in 13 states of Germany offering service in cable television, broadband internet, fixed telephone and mobile telephone. The company used the cable ducts built by Deutsche Telekom.
In 2010, Telecommunications regulator in Germany ordered to reduce charge for the use of its infrastructure by two-third. Kabel Deutschland argued that the same price deduction should also be applied retrospectively. The company filed the lawsuit to ask for the same deduction for the lease agreement before 2010.
