On 27 July 2018 the mobile communications provider MTS made an announcement about filing a lawsuit against Turkmenistan after the Turkmen authorities had refused to extend the frequency use license.
In retaliation the pro-governmental web-based news outlet Ashgabad.net published the comment by a representative of the law firm hired to settle financial disputes between MTS and Turkmenistan.
� After the first refusal to extend the license for telecommunications services in 2010 as a result of negotiations, the company had fully renounced its claims set forth in the new agreement. Therefore, the position of the cellular operations provider in taking the case to the International Court of Arbitration is rather weak and the lawsuit is likely to be dismissed, � the lawyer claimed.
According to Turkmenistan’s official, the reason behind filing a claim is the urge to exert information and psychological pressure on the opponent as well as the aspiration by the company’s executives to justify themselves in front of shareholders in making strategic mistakes.
� In fact, the license for rending MTS services was not revoked. I believe that MTS representatives intentionally are misleading the stakeholders and the public in an attempt to keep up its reputation by switching to aggressive defense. In fact, the curtailing of MTS operations in Turkmenistan is related to the expiry of the frequency use agreement, signed on 28 September 2017 between Turkmenistan’s Communications Ministry and MTS, rather than the duration of the telecommunications license, the expert concluded.
Source: Chronicles of Turkmenistan