Last Friday was the first day of the Samoa Tel versus Digicel court case.

Its rival, fellow mobile phone provider Digicel Samoa Limited is suing former sole provider of phone services to the country Samoa Tel, on the grounds that natural justice is being breeched by the first respondent Samoa Tel under the Telecommunications Act.

The hearing was held in the Supreme Court under the ruling of Justice Lesatele Rapi Vaai.

Friday was a chance for all parties involved to state their case and arguments in order to set a trial date for later on this year.

Lesatele said whether the information withheld by the first and second respondent was a privilege or not was not for him to decide at the present point of time.

However, he did state that this was an arguable case.

Digicel is arguing that Samoa Tel has caused the company financial suffering due to their low pricing.

Chief Executive Officer for Samoa Tel, Mike Johnston was contacted and asked for a comment on Digicel’s accusations.

He confirmed that Digicel did file the case against Samoa Tel and the Order of the Regulator.

However, Mr. Johnston simply added that, “Samoa Tel operates in a very competitive market, where they compete to provide the best possible services to the people of Samoa.”

No comment was able to be received by Digicel regarding the court case by press time.

Digicel, Samoa Tel and the Order of the Regulator have until the 17th of July to gather any witnesses which may be overseas and all parties involved have until July 31st to submit any additional affidavits.

The trial has been scheduled to take place on the 14th and 15th of August this year.

All parties mentioned that this matter needs to be solved as soon as possible.

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