TIRANA, Oct. 3 – The possible takeover of Albania’s second largest mobile operator by Serbia’s state-run Telekom Serbia will apparently not receive the okay of the Albanian government due to concerns over national security in a sensitive sector such as telecommunications and amid fears of the public not welcoming the operator’s arrival over non-positive feelings and perceptions related to tense historical political relations between the two countries.
Telekom Serbia is reported to have submitted the highest bid for the purchase of German-Greek owned Telekom Albania, with an offer of €60 million, beating Turkish, Greek, Czech and Bulgarian investors in tender held on Sept. 17, according to Albanian and Serbian media.
Telekom Albania, where German giant Deutsche Telekom owns a 40 percent stake through Greece-based OTE Group, is the second largest operator with a market share of 36 percent and one of the three remaining operators after Plus Communication, the sole Albanian-owned operator, ceased its operations at the end of 2017 after selling its shares to Telekom Albania and Vodafone Albania.
The sale of Telekom Albania comes after a hike in losses in 2017 and Albania’s mobile phone market having embarked on an ongoing downward trend since almost a decade, triggered by tougher competition and smartphone apps replacing traditional phone calls and text messages.
Turkish-owned Albtelecom, which runs the country’s third largest mobile operator, is also reported to have submitted a bid along with Czech PPF Group and Bulgaria’s Vivacom.
Sources quoted by local media say the Albanian government has not welcomed the Serbian state-run company’s offer following a meeting of Telekom Serbia officials with Albanian government representatives due to security concerns.
“The arrival of Telekom Serbia in Albania is not welcome. Even though the decision is among companies, the involvement of Telekom Serbia in the Albanian mobile telephony market could spark reactions that would have a negative impact even for the company itself. We are willing to welcome Serbian investors in the country but prefer an investor with another profile for this sector,” unnamed government sources are quoted as saying by local Albanian Ora News TV.
Meanwhile, Belgrade-based Danas newspaper says Telekom Serbia is politically motivated to acquire Telekom Albania and there are indications of “non-business motives” behind the unreasonably high bid.
According to a Danas source cited by Serbian Monitor English-language portal, there are indications that the offer of the Serbian company is based on “non-business motives since it gave an unreasonably high bid” .
“The [Danas] source also claims that Telekom Serbia has strong political support and that the Serbian authorities, through their German counterparts, appealed to Deutsche Telekom to soften the Albanian government and regulatory bodies to accept the Serbian offer,” says the portal.
The entry to Albania of Telekom Srbija, which also operates in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, would mark the first major Serbian investment in Albania, where Serbian investment is quite modest, amid tense political relations over Kosovo, the ethnic-Albanian country which declared its independence from Serbia a decade ago.
The concerns related to security grounds are a result of both Albanians and Serbians perceiving themselves among top threats and enemies despite political relations having significantly improved in the past few years and the civil society in both countries contributing to the normalization of relations between two countries that are considered key to the region’s stability and peace.
Relations between the two countries temporarily entered a Cold War era status quo in October 2014 following a drone incident with Albanian nationalistic and patriotic symbols flying over the Partizan stadium in Belgrade in the midst of a Serbia-Albania Euro 2016 qualifier.
Some Albanian security experts have also opposed the entry of mobile operators from non-EU and non-NATO member countries in sensitive sectors such as telecommunications.
A sale deal on Telekom Albania would also have to receive the okay of Albanian state-run regulators such as the electronic communications and competition watchdogs.
