Nokia Siemens is suing Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) in a dispute over an A$8 million (€5.9 million) network performance payout.
NSN asked an Australian court to intervene after VHA withdrew the network performance bond while demanding the equipment vendor top up the account with another A$8 million. The court has put the stoppers on NSN making that second payment, and ordered VHA to hold A$10 million in the bank until a trial early December, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Vodafone claimed the sum after awarding a network overhaul contract to Huawei in February to address mounting customer dissatisfaction over frequent service outages. The decision marked the end of a seven year supply deal with NSN.
The operator acted after a consumer revolt over service quality on the Vodafone element of the VHA network – created in 2009 by the merger of Vodafone Australia with Hutchison Australia. Law firm PiperAlderman has signed up 20,000 angry subscribers for a potential class-action lawsuit against the operator, however a court claim has yet to materialize.