Kordia brought about the arbitration in 2007 to clarify its upgrade rights with TelstraClear. 

The firm says that an award was issued by Alan Galbraith QC in June and that despite the contract stating that arbitration was “final and binding”, TelstraClear subsequently sought permission from the High Court to appeal, which was then denied. Kordia CEO Geoff Hunt says that TelstraClear had been disputing whether or not Kordia had rights to perform a unilateral upgrade on the jointly-built and -owned network.

The upgrade would be on the basis that it caused no detriment to TelstraClear’s use of the joint network, and would require only reasonable co-operation from TelstraClear at Kordia’s cost. “The issue was around whether or not we could unilaterally upgrade to maximise our share of the capacity in the fibre, or whether TelstraClear was able to obstruct this,” says Hunt.  “An upgrade will allow Kordia to get a similar cost base for capacity as TelstraClear, and enable us to compete effectively with them as well as others in the market, and provide a better return on our assets for the Shareholder. “Justice Brewer has found in our favour, so we will now be looking to maximize our share of the capacity in the joint fibre network for our wholesale business.”