The first instance court in Belgrade has rejected a multimillion claim for compensation from Telekom Srbija for alleged unfair market competition filed by the telco against United Group and its subsidiaries SBB, N1 TV and nova.rs.
According to N1 TV, quoting a statement by United Group, this decision by the Commercial Court prevents Telekom Srbija from trying to influence the editorial policy of the independent media N1 and nova.rs and rejects the request to stop reporting on the activities of the state-owned company Telekom, which would make it more difficult for citizens to access public information
It adds that Telekom Srbija had demanded €80 million in damages in court, alleging that the independent media N1 and nova.rs published false information and violated the press code when reporting on the telco.
The statement goes on to say that the reason for the lawsuit was Telekom Srbija’s dissatisfaction with N1 and nova.rs media reports from June to August 2020 which referred to a study of the profitability of the purchases of a dozen cable operators in Serbia in 2018 and 2019, taken over by Telekom Srbija; the text of the former member Jelisaveta Vasili? Anti-Corruption Council on the way Telekom Srbija operates; and reporting on the justification of certain business moves, such as the purchase of sports rights, the overall profitability of Telekom Srbija and the transparency of operations.
United Group’s statement concludes by saying that if the second-instance court’s ruling is upheld, Telekom Srbija will pay at least €25,000 in court costs due to an unfounded lawsuit, thus wasting the money of Serbian citizens due to unjustified attacks on the media.
