Turkcell is set to appeal the High Court of South Africa's decision to dismiss its lawsuit against MTN Group.

It follows the decision to dismiss the lawsuit last week by the court regarding MTN's entry into the Iranian market back in 2005, which Turkcell says was due to foul play.

It means that this lengthy legal squabble shows no sign of ending just yet.

Turkcell, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary East Asian Consortium (EAC), put forward a lawsuit against South Africa's MTN back in 2013, where it sought damages of $4.2 billion against MTN.

The Turkish telco alleged bribery and foul play were the reason for MTN securing a 49 percent stake in the company, which was Iran's first privatized operator, at the expense of Turkcell.

After entering in 2005, MTN Irancell launched its services in the country commercially a year later.

Turkcell dropped out of the legal proceedings in late 2020, suggesting the company has had a change of heart since last week's verdict. After dropping out of the legal proceedings, EAC was the sole plaintiff in the case against MTN.

In a lengthy statement, Turkcell said that the jurisdiction over the case should lie with Iranian courts and not with the South African courts, noting that's where MTN is based, and "the unlawful acts were planned in this location."

In a statement, Turkcell said: "Our Company will continue to enforce all its legal rights against this decision including an appeal of the decision, and will strongly and decisively continue to defend its rights for both compensation of the damages incurred, and also to ensure that the relevant executives of MTN are held accountable and punished."

MTN maintained no wrongdoing occurred throughout the lawsuit's proceedings.