United Group’s Serbia Broadband (SBB) has categorically denied that it is for sale.
In a statement, it said that “according to the staged scenario, which was evidently designed by the competition, “the company SBB was sold to the company Telekom Srbija”, and our users are recommended to switch to MTS services, because “we will soon be the same company”. For weeks, our users have been informing us that Telekom Srbija service sellers are persistently convincing them that it is better to replace the existing SBB equipment as soon as possible. Serbian citizens also write about similar experiences on social networks”.
It added: “We are shocked by the methods used this time against the SBB company, because this strategy of direct deception of citizens in the fight for users has not been recorded in Serbia in the field of telecommunications. We have evidence of numerous attempts to defraud our users who are told that “MTS has already bought Total TV and that users should return SBB equipment”, which is illegal and below any level of business communication and ethics. Due to all of the above, we are forced to publicly announce and inform our users and citizens that Telekom Srbija has not bought SBB, nor will it happen.
“We are proud of the fact that SBB users are extremely loyal to our company, because they do not want to switch to the services of Telekom Srbija and that they respectfully refuse to participate in this dishonest scam. At the same time, we must publicly warn our users that the most basic means of deception are now being used against them and ourselves. We are glad that our users have clearly recognized this and that they regularly inform us about aggressive, illegitimate and violent attempts to change the situation on the ground.
“For years, we have been pointing out the numerous obstructions of the SBB company by the authorities in Serbia, which provide indisputable support to the Telekom Srbija company, and that we are targeted for many discriminatory measures, which unfortunately the representatives of the authorities confirm in their public statements, among other things, with confessions concerning the prevention of SBB develops as a company with open favoritism of Telekom Srbija”.
SBB concludes by saying: We remind you that we did not waver even in such an openly hostile atmosphere and that we decided to fight with all legal means allowed, before domestic courts and bodies, but also through arbitration proceedings in Washington, all in the desire to show and prove the extent of the pressures and injustice that we are exposed, due to the preservation of our businesses, the protection of our users, but also the public in Serbia”.
Broadband TV News notes that BC Partners-owned United Group has been involved in a long-running dispute with Telekom Srbija, which it accuses of unfair competition. Like United Group, Telekom Srbija has undergone a period of a rapid expansion in the last three years.
