MTN is seen as a case study for South African businesses operating in Iran after mentions this week by former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, economists and the South Africa-Iran trade desk. However, this doesn't mean the telecoms company has had an easy ride. Since 2005, MTN has been operating alongside Irancell in a 49% partnership. It has been a lucrative market for the company, which has close to 50million subscribers in the Middle Eastern country, making it MTN's second-biggest region after Nigeria. Almost from the start of the partnership, MTN was accused of bribing South African and Iranian officials to make the deal happen. Four times, including once in the US, Turkcell has taken MTN to court. The first case was lodged in 2010. In the most recent case, lodged in the High Court in Johannesburg in 2013 - but delayed for various reasons - Turkcell is demanding some $4.2-billion (about R58.8-billion) from MTN, which it says is based on the profits, plus interest, it could have ...
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