The Kosovo Competition Protection Agency (AKK) ordered Telekom Serbia to pay a fine of 1.5 million Euro for failing to inform the agency that it bought several small cable operators, the KoSSev news portal said adding that the Serbian state-controlled company denied the claims.
According to KoSSev, Telekom Serbia’s affiliate in Kosovo MTS d.o.o. was fined by the AAK because it was obliged under the law on competition to inform the agency that it bought the cable operators.
The portal quoted a Telekom Serbia statement which said that the AAK decision was taken based on incorrect information and a failure to understand the specific situation. It added that the fine is part of the “continuing pressure by the Kurti administration”. “It’s important to say that MTS d.o.o. was not obliged to report four purchases in the 2019-2021 period when it acquired the VGN NET, Lika, Impuls and Herc International cable operators because the legal conditions were not in place, that is the acquisitions were not at the legal threshold to justify that obligation,” Telekom said. The statement also claimed that the amount of the fine was calculated incorrectly and based on unrealistic estimates of increased MTS d.o.o. income.
Telekom said it expects international community support for its appeals in court.
The fine comes after an extensive AKK investigation. KoSSev said that MTS d.o.o. operates in Kosovo thanks to the Belgrade-Pristina telecommunications agreement of 2013 under which Telekom Serbia assets and property were transferred to the company.
Source: N1
