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Turkcell first sued Johannesburg-based MTN in a U.S. court in
2012, alleging the South African mobile company used bribery and
wrongful influence to win a lucrative Iran license that was
originally awarded to Turkcell.
The case was later withdrawn from U.S. courts and filed in South
Africa 2013, where it has been caught up in legal wrangling. MTN
has rejected the allegations. It did not immediately respond to
a request for comment on Thursday.
"We are delighted that the case is finally coming to trial in
South Africa," Serhat Demir, a Turkcell vice president, said in
a statement.
"Turkcell will be seeking the earliest possible trial date, and
looks forward to vindicating its claims before the South African
courts."
Turkcell's claim was delayed by objections from MTN and
Turkcell's responses to the objections, Turkcell said. On May 5,
a South African high court rejected another 30 objections from
MTN, clearing the way for the case to go to trial, it said.
In papers filed in November 2013 with the South Gauteng High
Court in Johannesburg, Turkcell claimed that MTN "acted
wrongfully" and interfered with Turkcell's relationships with
the Iranian government.
MTN previously appointed a retired British judge to lead an
external investigation into Turkcell's allegations. That probe
dismissed the accusations as "a fabric of lies, distortions and
inventions".
Shares in MTN fell 2 percent to 115 rand as of 1034 GMT, lagging
behind a 0.9 percent decline in its closet rival Vodacom Group <VODJ.J>.
(Reporting by David Dolan and Can Sezer; Additional reporting by
Tiisetso Motsoeneng in Johannesburg; Editing by Ece Toksabay/Keith
Weir)
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