Telekom Austria is the only party to have lodged a bid for a 51% stake in the incumbent Serbian telco Telekom Srbija.
However, reports Novosti, the €950 million it has offered is €450 million less than the minimum asking price set by the Serbian state and Greece’s OTE, the current shareholders.
Although Telekom Austria has promised to invest €450 million in the telco over the next three years, government sources have told Novosti its bid is “unacceptable”.
Although the tender to sell a 51% stake in Telekom Srbija was announced in October 2010, the deadline for submitting offers was extended to March 21.
Deutsche Telekom and Russia’s Vimpelcom were strongly linked with the telco, though neither submitted bids.
Telekom Srbija’s interests include an IPTV platform in Serbia that began this month with over 95,000 subscribers.