{"id":35209,"date":"2013-04-10T10:21:22","date_gmt":"2013-04-10T08:21:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=35209"},"modified":"2013-04-10T17:28:24","modified_gmt":"2013-04-10T15:28:24","slug":"twist-in-vodacom-wirelessg-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/35209\/twist-in-vodacom-wirelessg-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Twist in Vodacom, WirelessG battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"WirelessG\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/forum\/showthread.php\/2205-WirelessG\">WirelessG<\/a> has elected not to proceed with a legal application against <a title=\"Vodacom\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/forum\/showthread.php\/1639-Vodacom\">Vodacom<\/a>, following an offer from Vodacom\u2019s legal team. This is according to WirelessG CEO, <a title=\"Carel van der Merwe\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/forum\/showthread.php\/6306-Carel-van-der-Merwe\">Carel van der Merwe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, Vodacom explained that it was ready to defend the case,\u00a0which may have included recovering its legal costs from WirelessG.<\/p>\n<p>In January 2013, WirelessG and six other applicants filed an urgent court application against Vodacom, arguing that Vodacom is not in compliance with its shareholding agreement with WirelessG.<\/p>\n<p>According to WirelessG, Vodacom had not honoured its shareholder agreement which, it said in court papers, had subsequently cost the company millions in lost revenue.<\/p>\n<p>WirelessG argued in the legal documents that:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vodacom was not permitted to provide Wi-Fi independently from WirelessG;<\/li>\n<li>Vodacom was obliged to offer WirelessG&#8217;s Wi-Fi as an integral part of its data bundles;<\/li>\n<li>Vodacom had to provide WirelessG with a data pricing equal to Vodacom\u2019s best wholesale data price.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">WirelessG withdraws application against Vodacom<\/h3>\n<p>The two parties met in court on 9 April 2013, but instead of a legal battle, WirelessG withdrew its application after behind-the-scenes action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJust prior to the court proceedings this morning, Vodacom&#8217;s legal team approached WirelessG with an offer that, in event of WirelessG electing not to proceed with an application, each party can pay their own legal cost,\u201d said WirelessG CEO Carel van der Merwe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs WirelessG is of the opinion that, following prolonged negotiation, a settlement is imminent, WirelessG opted not to continue with the application but rather finalize negotiations in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">WirelessG accepts Vodacom offer on \u201cgood faith and trust\u201d<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_30282\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Carel-van-der-Merwe.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30282\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30282\" alt=\"Carel van der Merwe\" src=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Carel-van-der-Merwe.jpg\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Carel-van-der-Merwe.jpg 600w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Carel-van-der-Merwe-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-30282\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carel van der Merwe<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Van der Merwe said that they took the initiative to accept Vodacom&#8217;s offer in good faith, and that WirelessG \u201creally trusts that the settlement will still be finalized this week\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHowever, WirelessG shall not hesitate to protect its rights by means of further legal recourses should Vodacom not demonstrate the same urgency in settling this matter,\u201d van der Merwe noted.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Vodacom explains events<\/h3>\n<p>Vodacom spokesperson <a title=\"Richard Boorman\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/forum\/showthread.php\/1703-Richard-Boorman\">Richard Boorman<\/a> confirmed that the matter was withdrawn from court by WirelessG &#8211; however, Vodacom&#8217;s version of events differ slightly from that of WirelessG.<\/p>\n<p>Vodacom spokesperson Richard Boorman said that the case was withdrawn by WirelessG, but that Vodacom was ready to defend the case in court.<\/p>\n<p>Boorman said that Vodacom was in discussions with WirelessG to find an amicable solution to the dispute raised by WirelessG earlier this year<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese discussions had not led to a settlement agreement prior to 9 April, the date set to hear the urgent application,\u201d said Boorman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVodacom was therefore ready to defend the court action on the day of the hearing, and if successful would have been entitled to recover its costs from WirelessG.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, WirelessG withdrew the action and the parties agreed to pay their own costs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cVodacom is continuing to explore all avenues to find an amicable resolution,\u201d said Boorman.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">More on the Vodacom and WirelessG legal battle<\/h3>\n<p><a title=\"Vodacom offers \u201ctruth\u201d on WirelessG claims\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/internet\/31975\/vodacom-offers-truth-on-wirelessg-claims\/\"><strong>Vodacom offers \u201ctruth\u201d on WirelessG claims<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"WirelessG lashes out at \u2018incompetent\u2019 Vodacom\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/31613\/wirelessg-lashes-out-at-incompetent-vodacom\/\"><strong>WirelessG lashes out at \u2018incompetent\u2019 Vodacom<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Vodacom killing companies: WirelessG\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/30279\/vodacom-killing-companies-wirelessg\/\"><strong>Vodacom killing companies: WirelessG<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><a title=\"Vodacom vs WirelessG: billion rand blunder or storm in a teacup?\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/30118\/vodacom-vs-wirelessg-billion-rand-blunder-or-storm-in-a-teacup\/\">Vodacom vs WirelessG: billion rand blunder or storm in a teacup?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Vodacom in the dock over Wi-Fi contract\" href=\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/mobile\/30051\/vodacom-in-the-dock-over-wi-fi-contract\/\"><strong>Vodacom in the dock over Wi-Fi contract<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Behind the scenes action prior to the Vodacom, WirelessG court proceedings offers a twist on this ongoing legal battle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":35222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[4717,26,1755,27,2477],"class_list":["post-35209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-telecommunications","tag-carel-van-der-merwe","tag-headline","tag-richard-boorman","tag-vodacom","tag-wirelessg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35209"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35475,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35209\/revisions\/35475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}