Media discovers alternative offer for the privatization of Albtelecom

TIRANA, March.13 – The saga of the privatization of AlbTelecom has not stopped. The delay of the Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, given official health reasons and the denial of the license of the third operator in the Parliament this week have left Albanian consumers with the same stagnant situation regarding the telecommunications industry. Moreover the Albanian daily Panorama has unveiled a letter from an American company to the highest government officials interested in the process with an attractive offer of 300 million euro, a far more lucrative sum than the 120 million offered by the Turkish lead choice Calik Enerji. “Carey international Ltd” is the American company which has evaluated AlbTelcom according to stock market indicators and has reached the conclusion that I was worth much more than the winning tender sum. However this is no news, because during the tender process an Albanian Business Consortium offered 50 million euro more than Calik to buy Albtelecom, but the tender had as a prior condition for the winning company not to have only an attractive purchase sum but also to be a strategic investor with telecommunications expertise.
Selami Xhepa, Advisor to the Prime Minister Berisha for economic affairs clarifies for Tirana Times that it was due to these ambiguous developments that the right wing coalition doubted the tender process organized by the prior government at the time. However, the tender process has been closed and the winner is still Calik Enerji. If the company does not fulfill the requests of the Albanian side prior to the privatization of Albtelecom then a new tender can be organized. For the moment though, Calik is making progressive steps. Economy Minster Ruli announced in a press conference that Calik had completed an important request of the Albanian side to be a strategic consortium.