Earlier this year, Erkan Tabak, Albtelecom’s executive director, described the negotiations as “roumours which have been generated on purpose to slow down our inevitable growth.”
TIRANA, May 6 – Turkey’s Albtelecom has denied allegations that it is negotiating with Greece’s OTE over the sale of its landline and mobile operators.
The reaction came after Greek newspaper Ekathimerini reported that Greece’s biggest telecoms operator OTE, whose 40 percent stake is controlled by Deutsche Telecom, and has been present in Albania with AMC mobile operator since 2000, was in negotiations to purchase Turkish-owned Albtelecom landline and Eagle Mobile operator.
“Our company has recently launched the IPTV service and has obtained two licences to offer 4G services, strongly continuing its planned investments in this respect. It is obvious that there is no decision on Albtelecom’s sale and our company continues its strategy of expansion and growth in Albania and other Balkan countries,” Albtelecom said in a statement.
“Sources say OTE and Albtelecom representatives have already met several times, but that a deal has yet to be reached, mainly due to price disagreements,” Kathimerini reported, adding that Turkish shareholders’ are asking between 200 and 230 million euros which OTE sources have described as inconceivable.
Earlier this year, Erkan Tabak, Albtelecom’s executive director, described the negotiations as “roumours which have been generated on purpose to slow down our inevitable growth.”
“We are very determined to stay in Albania. We keep investing in our company, and as I told you before, we have made a huge amount of investments in the telecommunications business, but also in other businesses Çalik Holding is planning to enter in Albania,” Tabak said last January.
Currently, 76 percent of Albtelecom’s shares are owned by Turkey’s Calik Group which in 2007 bought them for 120 million Euros. The Calik Group is also present in Albania with the Eagle Mobile operator and the BKT bank.
“We made a lot of investments in 2014 and we have also planned two other big investments for the coming years. We are planning to invest another 50 million Euros in 2015 and 2016 in 4G, fiber optic backbone, and IPTV decoders, which are given for free to our customers,” the company has said.
Turkish-owned Eagle Mobile, which has been present in Albania since 2008, posted income of 4 billion lek (€27.7 mln) in 2014, down from 4.2 billion lek (€29.4 mln) in 2013, which was the company’s best performance during its first six years of operation. Eagle Mobile, part of Calik Group present in Albania with Albtelecom landline and internet provider and BKT bank, increased its market share by 1 percent to 12 percent in 2014.
