German telcom learns from media Rama's up in its business

Belgrade-based daily Politika writes this on Thursday.

Namely, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said two days ago that while Serbian companies are "welcome to Albania" - this is not true when it comes to "a strategic sector like telecommunications."

Telekom Albania is not a state-owned property, yet Albanian state officials are clearly stating that they are against Serbia's state-owned telcom Telekom Srbija becoming a majority owner of this company.

In this case, neither the owner nor the seller is the Albanian state, but the rivately-held Deutsche Telekom, which holds 99.79 percent of shares in Telekom Albania, via the Greek OTE.

Deutsche Telekom told Politika that they had learned about this problem from the media, and that they "do not deal with political comments."

As this company is listed in the stock market, the rule is not to answer such questions, Belgrade newspaper was told by Elpida Trizi from the German company's PR team.

Trizi pointed out that OTE is the direct seller in this business, where Deutsche Telekom has 40 percent ownership.

OTE took over Telekom Albania in 2000, with Deutsche Telekom acquiring its stake in this Greek company nine years later.

Kostas Kanakaris from OTE's PR told the daily that, in line with its strategic goals and business plan, the company constantly assesses market opportunities and value of its assets, including that in Albania.

"Process analysis is under way, but also discussions with several interested parties. In accordance with our usual practice, representatives of the authorities, but also the public will be informed if and when we have something important to announce," he said.

The seller did not comment on the...