Lucic: We explained that the Competition Authority operates contrary to all norms and regulations of European practice

The General Director of Telekom Srbija, Vladimir Lucic, stated today for Kosovo Online, after meetings in Pristina with the US Ambassador and the EU Ambassador to Kosovo, that he was satisfied with the outcome, and that they explained to the representatives of the international community that the Competition Authority in Pristina operated against all norms and regulations of European practice.

Lucic emphasized that after discussions with representatives of the international community, he had positive impressions and expected their support and that this issue would also be resolved in the interest of the subsidiary company operating in Kosovo.

“After all the meetings, I can say that we are extremely satisfied, that we have been given the opportunity, and that we have explained well how the Competition Authority in Pristina operates against all norms and regulations of European practice. I expect that representatives of the EU will help us primarily because the European Commission monitors the work of the Competition Authority. We informed the ambassadors that we have initiated legal proceedings, that we are fully confident we will win that case, and we expect that the Competition Authority will no longer take aggressive actions against Telekom Srbija by the end of that legal process," Lucic said.

During the meetings, there were also discussions about obtaining a third license, Lucic said, emphasizing that he did not expect a quick resolution on that matter but hoped it would happen next year.

"We will try to prepare as much as possible because I believe that the key to the stability of our mobile telephony in Kosovo is for people, especially in Serbian enclaves, to have an excellent mobile network, and for us to obtain that third license. As for this most acute attack by the Competition Authority, which started in August when they were trying to shut us down, I expect that it will lead to a resolution favorable to us because that is the only logical and normal solution in accordance with all European standards," Lucic said.

The Kosovo Competition Authority fined the company MTS - a branch of Telekom in Kosovo, with a financial penalty of over 1.5 million euros for allegedly illegally taking over a cable operator.

"Not only did they fine us, but they are also trying to retroactively take away four cable operators that we merged in 2019, and they prevented us from acquiring a small cable operator in Gracanica. Our demand is that all these destructive actions, charges, and retroactive analyses of these cable operators under the new law, which is a legal inconsistency, should not be done until the legal dispute is resolved, which we are confident will be in our favor, and they should overturn the decision they made to prohibit us from acquiring a small cable operator because we have plans to continue buying and expanding here," Lucic said.

Lucic announced that he would meet with the Ambassador of Great Britain in Kosovo next Monday.