Belgrade, May 3, 2002 - "The conditions dictated by Telekom Serbia are
hindering the development of telecommunications in Serbia. Telekom's
representatives are using the monopoly they have in a dishonorable way,
behaving unprofessionally and autocratically, as a cartel, so consequently
citizens suffer the most. All the while, the PTT [Post, Telegraph and
Telephone] Serbia, a shareholder in Telekom, has been reduced to the
absurd situation of having virtually no influence on decision making
in Telekom," PTT Serbia General Director Srdjan Blagojevic told a press
conference yesterday.
Blagojevic said that the PTT had no representative on Telekom's board
of managers, but even if the structure of the board were different,
it is doubtful whether the situation would be better, since the board
rarely meets, leaving decision making to the directors. He said that
Telekom's behavior thus brought on huge material damages, slowed down
or completely halted the development of telecommunications and information
systems, and the work of post offices.
"This is why three main sectors are hindered - the information modernization
of postal services, the development of the Internet and the cable distribution
system. Telekom Serbia has no defined strategic and business plan, it
has failed to adopt auditing reports from 1999 and 2000, and has brought
to utter collapse domestic producers and suppliers who should have advantage
over foreigners, if they are competitive. Telekom is bound to this under
valid shareholder documents," Blagojevic said.
And there is more, he said, and went on. The connection of 228 posts
throughout Serbia to the Postnet computer network has been halted because
Telekom has still failed to respond to a request sent by the PTT on
27 February; the PTT has provided the entire computer facilities for
this project. Blagojevic said that differences between the companies
had escalated because the PTT had not received written consent from
Telekom for the expansion of its external Internet links.
"The request for the lease of links of 34 megabits per second between
Belgrade and Stuttgart was on 23 July last year and declined. However,
after the expansion of Telekom's capacities on that route, Telekom offered
the PTT the lease of the link at twice the price than the one envisaged.
The PTT asked for the lease a link of the same capacity between Belgrade
and Banja Luka, knowing that there are still available resources on
this route, but Telekom replied in the negative, alleging it did not
have the pricelist for the service. Thus the damages sustained through
Telekom's conduct total 45,670,000 dinars. Incidentally, Telekom has
granted the lease of the links to private providers," Blagojevic said...
[Box] Telekom owes 657 million dinars
Telekom's debt to the PTT was 656,731,198 dinars on 2 April 2002. This
is a registered debt, though Telekom disputes it and will not pay up.
The debt pertains to the lease of real estate, transfer of rights for
telephone operations, the delivery of telephone bills and cables, Postal
Information Centre services, and pay phone services.
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