With its profitable business abroad, Telekom Serbia “introduced” Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro into the EU, at least in the telecommunications sense.
This was pointed out by the coordinator for internet and multimedia of Telekom Serbia, Vladimir Lucic.
According to him, Telekom Serbia, which is present on the Austrian market under the “Mtel Austria” brand, is satisfied with the business there.
“We have crossed 100,000 active users in Austria – 60,000 mobile and about 41,000 television users. This is a very important project for us, I think the right path. In addition to our goal in Serbia, BiH, Montenegro to be number one operator in all services. I think this is a natural way to expand to Germany, Switzerland, and then Canada and America,” Lucic told Tanjug.
He announced that the company will in the first phase in Austria, Germany and Switzerland offer, in addition to mobile telephony, offers of television channels from the former Yugoslavia, and, in cooperation with domestic operators, fixed internet, as well as domestic channels there.
This, he believes, will enable users in the diaspora to get all the necessary services from one hand.
“The beauty of this project is that, thanks to our diaspora, we are expanding to the countries with the highest per capita income, that is, the richest European countries. Once we are mobile, the Internet and TV operator in those countries do not prevent anyone from taking part and the rest of the market,” Lucic explained.
He pointed out that, for example, in Austria, out of 60,000 mobile telephony users, 10% are Austrian citizens who saw that “Mtel Austria” offers the most favorable prepaid card.
Lucic points out that Telekom’s business abroad is working to bring the diaspora closer to the motherland.
He announced that additional services for the diaspora were planned, such as the “easy money transfer” service, with which users could easily transfer money to Serbia, and the digital application for health services, which would connect the diaspora and doctors, schedule examinations had a digital medical record.
“Through additional digital services, we will try to additionally connect the diaspora with the motherland,” he said.
Lucic underlined that this is a project that will exceptionally contribute to the development of income and profit.
“With the same television content that we offer in Serbia, we perform there as well. So with the content that we have already invested in, we are expanding our markets in the world,” he said.
Lucic said that the dynamics of spreading was somewhat slowed down due to the corona virus, but added that negotiations with operators in Germany were now intensifying so that by the end of the year, in the first quarter of next year at the latest, Mtel would appear, in addition to the television offer with mobile telephony.
At the same time, he adds, negotiations are underway to enter the Swiss market, where negotiations with one operator are in the final phase.
In Germany, he says, Mtel will try to have branches in all cities where our diaspora lives, that is, about 30 own branches.
“Germany is very important to us because there is a lot of our diaspora in that country, and it is also a market with over 100 million mobile users. That is why entering Germany is very important to us,” he said.
Lucic assessed that with the current experience that Telekom has in doing business in Austria, it believes that it can achieve success in other EU markets.
“Experience so far has shown that we are quite competitive, and above all, our users appreciate that we are state-owned,” he said.
He pointed out that Telekom, with its business venture, found a space for users that they have not had so far, with a potentially more significant opportunity.
“It is now a large space of several million potential users that we plan to have in the next 4 to 5 years,” he said.
According to him, mobile telephony is a profitable business, especially when you are an operator in the EU where the regulator has forced operators not to charge services in high prices in all countries, which makes it possible to offer free telephony in the EU, without roaming and it can do the same in Serbia, BiH and Montenegro.
“In a way, we have connected Serbia, BiH, and Montenegro with the EU in the telecommunication sense,” he emphasized.
As for the television offer, he says that the competition abroad is primarily piracy.
“And pirates charge a certain amount, and we’re not that expensive, and we have all the legal channels. I urge users to keep that in mind. There are a couple of legal competitors like Nettv, but we are singled out by a large number of exclusive channels,” he said.
Lucic said that Telecom is working intensively with the prosecutor’s office in Austria and Germany to extinguish pirate offers, B92 reports.
