06/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - French internet operators lose case at Court of Justice of EU. The appeals lodged by a number of French electronic communications operators (Colt Télécommunications France, Orange, Iliad, Free infrastructure and Free) against a decision by the General Court of the EU were rejected by Court of Justice orders on Thursday 5 March (joined cases C-621/13 and C-624/13). The Court thus upheld the ruling by the General Court of September 2013 (see EUROPE 10922) that the European Commission was correct in 2009 in authorising payment by the French authorities of €59 million to the Sequalum SAS consortium of companies as compensation for public service costs for the establishment and operation of ultra-fast communications network project, following a public procurement procedure. (Jan Kordys)