BERLIN, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Germany's highest federal courthanded Vodafone a victory on Tuesday in a dispute withDeutsche Telekom over how the former state monopolycharges for the use of cable ducts, Vodafone said.
The dispute concerns around 400 million euros ($430 million)that Vodafone says Telekom has overcharged it in rent for usingthe cable network that Deutsche Telekom built before it had tospin it off as part of its privatisation.
A Vodafone spokeswoman said the Federal Court of Justice hadoverturned a ruling of a lower court in favour of DeutscheTelekom and referred the case back to that court to determinewhether and to what extent Vodafone's claims were founded.
"In our opinion, Telekom is abusing its dominant positionwith the high rental fees for the use of cable ducts," thespokeswoman said.
The Federal Court of Justice was not reachable after officehours.
Deutsche Telekom said it was confident the lower court wouldagain find in its favour.
"We expect that the higher regional court will agree withour view that the size of the demand is not justified," aspokesman said. ($1 = 0.9300 euros) (Reporting by Peter Maushagen; Writing by Emma Thomasson;Editing by Georgina Prodhan)
Vodafone (VOD)
