PARIS, France, May 18 -- France Telecom has launched arbitration proceedings against Deutsche Telekom, its strategic partner of less than one year. According to France Telecom, the proposed merger between Deutsche Telekom and Telecom Italia, arranged with no input from the French company, fundamentally breaches the alliance of the German and French partners, entailing the termination of the strategic partnership agreements signed in 1998.
France Telecom has filed lawsuits with the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce. France Telecom is seeking damages in an amount to be determined during the course of the proceedings; preliminary estimates run to several billion euros.