Serbia’s Minister of Economy and Regional Affairs, Nebojsa Ciric announced on Tuesday that Telekom Srbija would not be privatised by the current government. The initial plans for privatisation have been cancelled as the only interested party, Telekom Austria, did not meet the Serbian government’s minimum price of EUR1.4 billion (USD2.015 billion) for a 51% share in the national telco. Instead it is to become an open joint stock company. According to local paper Tanjug, free shares will be provided to its employees and those of the Posta Srbije. The transformation is to take place over the summer of 2011, with the free shares distributed by September. The remaining shares will be traded at the Belgrade stock exchange.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, at the end of December 2010 Telekom Srbija had three million active fixed lines
