TIRANA, Oct. 4 – Turkey’s Albtelecom is the most likely company to acquire Telekom Albania following an apparent refusal of the Telekom Serbia offer on security grounds.
Sources quoted by Scan TV say Albtelecom, which already operates in Albania’s mobile phone market and is the third largest mobile operator, has submitted a competitive bid, which is being considered by Telekom Albania, part of Greece-based OTE Group, where Germany’s Deutsche Telekom owns a 40 percent stake.
The potential Telekom Albania acquisition would make Turkish-owned Albtelecom, the country’s largest operator, overtaking leading Vodafone Albania which has an almost 50 percent share in terms of subscribers and income.
However, the acquisition could reduce the number of operators to two and likely bring problems when the purchase is examined by Albania’s electronic communication and competition watchdogs due to cutting the number of operators to two compared to a previous four until late 2017 when Albanian-owned Plus Communication ceased its operations.
Albtelecom, part of Turkey’s Calik Group which also runs the largest commercial bank in Albania, has been present in Albania since 2000 when it acquired a 76 percent stake in Albania’s landline telephone and internet service provider. The Turkish group entered the mobile phone market in March 2011 with the Eagle Mobile operator which two years later was rebranded Albtelecom.
Back in mid-2015 when former AMC mobile operator was rebranded Telekom Albania, Turkish-owned Albtelecom had warned of legal action against Germany’s Deutsche Telekom because of the similarity to its trademark creating possible confusion among customers.
