Announcement

US$34.5 Million claim against Telekom Malaysia Berhad is successfully dismissed.

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13 July 2022

“The claim against Telekom Malaysia Berhad is dismissed as there were no merits to the claim. Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s counterclaim for misrepresentation is allowed”

Our Partner, T. Kuhendran and Esther Tan from Zul Rafique & Partner’s Construction Dispute Resolution Practice Group, along with co-counsel from Providence Law Asia LLC acting for Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) in the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) arbitration, have successfully obtained an Award in favour of TM. 

As a matter of background, TM and Vodoke have entered into a Collaboration Agreement (“CA”) in July 2015. Disputes arose between the parties arising from the CA.

In February 2020, Vodoke issued a Notice of Arbitration against TM. Amongst the reliefs sought were that TM pays Vodoke the sum of USD540,000 or alternatively damages for failing to pay the full amount due under the initial order of 30,000 units of Vodoke’s IPTV Package. Vodoke also sought for damages estimated in the region of USD $34 million, for TM’s purported breaches under the CA and further sought for damages due to loss of advertising revenue.

TM issued a Response to the Notice of Arbitration, disputing the matters stated in the Notice of Arbitration. In the said Response, TM counterclaimed against Vodoke for damages, interest, costs and such further or other reliefs as may be deemed just.

During the course of the arbitration, the Tribunal directed for bifurcation of the arbitration with issues relating to liability to be determined first, and issues relating to the quantification of damages to be determined thereafter.

In the Amended Statement of Claim, Vodoke claimed for damages in relation to TM’s purported breaches under the CA, relating to TM’s purported obligation to place annual minimum purchase orders, and to provide a working cloud server.

TM, in the Amended Statement of Defence and Counterclaim, denied the purported breaches as claimed by Vodoke. TM counterclaimed for amongst others, misrepresentation made by Vodoke.

In the Partial Award – Liability dated 6.7.2022 which was issued by the SIAC, the Tribunal found that there were no merits in Vodoke’s claims and accordingly dismissed Vodoke’s claims. The Tribunal allowed TM’s counterclaim for misrepresentation.

The Counsels for this case are:
 
T Kuhendran (Devan)
 
Esther Tan

For more insight into this area of law, please contact our Partners in the Construction Dispute Resolution Practice Group:

Kuhendran Thanapalasingam
Susan Tan Shu Shuen