Lucic: Roaming between Serbia and the EU will be abolished by the end of the year or early 2027

Vladimir Lucic, CEO of Telekom Serbia, stated today that the plan is for Serbia to become integrated with the European roaming market by the end of this year or during the first quarter of 2027, meaning that roaming charges for Serbian citizens traveling within the EU would be abolished by then.

Speaking about negotiations with the EU regarding the inclusion of the Western Balkans in the "Roam Like at Home" regime, Lucic said that the state will adopt all legislation related to the issue by September. He emphasized that the elimination of roaming charges will be a major benefit for users, as they will be able to use mobile internet anywhere in Europe just as they do at home, Telegraf reports.

Reflecting on the previous year and Telekom's financial results, including a profit of €1.3 billion and more than 300,000 new customers, Lucic said that, in terms of trends, quality, and growth, it is difficult to compare any telecommunications operator with Telekom.

As he noted, two months ago the company entered the Dublin capital market as the only company from the Western Balkans to do so, which, he said, demonstrates the company's quality.

“Two years ago we issued corporate bonds, and now we have issued a second round. To do that, we had to obtain credit ratings,” Lucic told K1 TV.

He also stressed that Telekom has achieved exceptional quality in media content, noting that 1.1 million users have switched to Telekom since 2018.

“Last year was marked by consolidation when we acquired United Group and Orion. As a result, Telekom Serbia became the dominant player with a 62 percent market share, while our second- and third-largest competitors, Yettel and A1, largely use our fiber-optic infrastructure and our content. We generate revenue from every user, which brings us exceptional profitability. On the other hand, for the media sector, it is important that through this consolidation we provided nationwide coverage for television channels,” he explained.

Lucic said that, due to political ambitions, United Group spent three years trying to compete with Telekom through what he described as an unprecedented media campaign. He added that in 2021, when Telekom acquired the Premier League rights and Yettel, the company went a step further by engaging one of the strongest British lobbying firms with the aim of placing both him personally and Telekom Serbia on a US blacklist.

According to him, although from 2021 to 2025 they attempted to discredit the company worldwide and spent tens of millions of euros doing so, Telekom nevertheless demonstrated even greater success and quality than before.

“We also have an agreement with the US EXIM Bank. We have direct support from the US EXIM Bank and the US government for the development of 5G technology, as well as partnerships with companies such as Vodafone and Amazon, and with the largest financial institutions in Europe and the United States,” Lucic added.