France Tel sticks to goals after Polish unit fine-UPDATE 1

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Tuesday September 07, 2010 02:33:07 PM GMT

* Polish unit ordered to pay 396 million euros fine

* France Telecom keeps dividend goals

* Says impact of decision excluded from cash flow outlook

* France Telecom shares flat, TPSA down 2.8 percent

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PARIS, Sept 6 (Reuters) - France Telecom kept its financial goals on Monday, after an arbitration tribunal fined its Polish unit 396 million euros ($531.3 million), and said the unit was considering whether to appeal.

The tribunal ordered Telekominikacja Polska on Friday to pay the money in compensation to Danish Polish Telecommunications Group (DPTG), following a long dispute.

The French telecom operator said on Monday it had already made a provision for the potential impact of the decision, which was excluded from the group's 8 billion euros cash flow outlook for 2010.

The company also reaffirmed its commitment to a dividend of 1.40 euros a share for 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The arbitration decision only covers a period from 1994 to 2004. TPSA, a 49.79 percent subsidiary of France telecom, is reviewing its options about taking further legal action to counter this decision, France Telecom said. The second phase of the proceedings will look at the period from July 2004 to January 2009, it said.

The dispute, which lasted for nine years, centred on traffic volumes carried over the group's fibre optical telecom network in Poland. ($1=.7453 Euro)

(Reporting by Cyril Altmeyer; Editing by Erica Billingham)

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