Telefónica has gone to the United States courts to request the enforcement of an award exceeding 500 million dollars (430.3 million euros) which, according to the company, the Colombian State has pending payment since a conflict initiated in 1994.
The operator decided to take this step on June 2, with the aim of Colombia complying with the ruling of the "ad hoc" committee of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which rejected the appeal filed by the country with which it sought to halt said disbursement.
That pronouncement was based on a formal issue: the State did not provide a financial guarantee that would ensure payment in the event that the annulment appeal was dismissed. According to the rules of procedure, Colombia was obliged to establish a policy within a maximum period of 30 days.
Telefónica had already won in November 2024 in the arbitration, for an amount of 379.8 million dollars (326.9 million euros) plus compound interest of 5% as compensation. In this way, Colombia will have to face the payment of the principal, the generated interest, and the costs of the process.
The international arbitration tribunal was formed in 2018 with a panel of three arbitrators, after Telefónica activated the mediation mechanism against Colombia.
The Spanish company maintained that the South American nation "failed to fulfill its obligation to grant fair and equitable treatment to the investments" made by the multinational in its territory.
Within the framework of that arbitration, Telefónica claimed damages arising from various decisions adopted by the Colombian State which, in the company's opinion, harmed its investments in the subsidiary Colombia Telecomunicaciones.
The origin of the conflict lies in the application, by the Colombian authorities, of several measures aimed at reversing assets linked to Telefónica's telecommunications business in the country. As a result of these actions, the company was forced to pay 379.8 million dollars in 2017.