UG's SBB to Govt: Why is Serbia's NET Post ceded to Telekom without public call?

The NET Post company said it would no longer deal with cable communications and transferred its publically owned infrastructure to Telekom in a completely non-transparent process.

SBB said it had sent an official letter to Serbia's Government and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic with a request to reconsider the transfer of Post of Serbia's cable infrastructure to Telekom, demanding an official explanation why a tender was not called for the state to achieve the best price with the participation of all interested companies.

"Without the public call, all interested companies, including SBB, were prevented from participating in the competitive process of purchasing the NET Post cable operator infrastructure, " SBB said.

"With this non-transparent process, the state has lost the opportunity to earn by getting the best possible price," it added.

SBB publicly asked the Government and Prime Minister why the Post's telecommunications infrastructure was not transparently offered to the market through a competitive public sale procedure, instead of transferring the state property to Telekom Srbija?

"By enabling such an agreement between the two state-owned companies, the Government has once again shown it continues to intervene and put pressure on state institutions in the telecommunications market in favour of one market participant - Telekom Srbija - to the detriment of all other companies investing in their development," SBB said.

It added it "is paradoxical that SBB must constantly warn Serbia's Government that by supporting Telekom Srbija, the country's Constitution and the proclaimed principles of economic regulation like equality of all market participants and freedom of entrepreneurship have not been respected."

"This is another in a series of procedures in which Serbia's people lose the right to choose the service provider freely, and instead be limited to Telekom Serbia service on the principle of 'take it or leave it'," SBB warned.

It adds that "unfortunately, users are already testifying that there are some 'forbidden' cities where SBB cannot provide services to those who want it. Because of such pressures, Telekom Srbija has become a monopolist in the country, something that Serbia's authorities have been working on for a long time."

SBB also said that the Government did not respect the Constitution and laws in the country and that, when it came to Telekom Serbia's interests, everything was allowed.

"Unfortunately, Serbia's institutions, which should be independent, are also included in this illegal support of the state company," SBB said.

It added that sector regulators and other state institutions had been for years supporting "the Telekom Serbia's predatory business policy, whose undisguised goal is to monopolise the market and become the only cable communications service provider."

SBB called on the respective institutions to react and examine in detail the agreement between Telekom Srbija and Post of Serbia to establish whether the acquisition was reported in line with competition rules.

It also called on the Government to prevent "illegal alienation of public property and finally enable market competition."

SBB operates within the United Group, as does N1 television.