Austrians buy Telekom, Germans get VIP network

Telecom Austria is ready to pay Serbia for a 31-percent stake in Telekom Srbija and to give VIP in exchange for OTE's 20-percent stake in the national telecommunications company of our country. The deadline extensions have been requested because of the position of the EU, which finds it unacceptable that Telekom Austria holds 70 percent of the market.

Telecom Austria is offering a new, much more complicated solution in the negotiations on the acquisition of Telekom Srbija. Blic daily newspaper learns from unofficial sources that the idea of Telecom Austria is to buy 31 percent of shares from the Serbian government and to give VIP Mobile to Deutche Telekom (the owner of OTE) in exchange for OTE's 20-percent stake in Telekom Srbija.

Blic's source in the Government of Serbia claims that it would be a "win-win" combination - the state would get the requested EUR 840 million for its 31-percent stake, Telecom Austria would take over 51 percent of the company without putting additional efforts into increasing its offer to EUR 1.4 billion, while Deutsche Telekom would finally enter the market of Serbia through VIP Mobile.