United Group has hit back at “slanders” from Telekom Srbija and in particular its head Vladimir Lucic.
In a wide-ranging article in N1, which is part of United Group, it said that United Group’s income is twice as much as Telekom Srbija’s and every time its majority owner changed it was through an intensive international tender. Its value is estimated to be around €10 billion.
On the other hand, the Serbian incumbent has seen two failed privatisations and there is no sign of any serious investors’ interest in the company.
United Group also dismisses Telekom Srbija’s claims it is in financial difficulties because it is €4 billion in debt as untrue, adding that “ in reality the current level of debt is the result of the astronomical development of the company and numerous acquisitions”.
“Namely, since 2020, United Group has bought the companies Vivacom and Nova in Bulgaria, Tele2 and Optima Telekom in Croatia, Nova and Wind in Greece, as well as 20 small and medium-sized companies. The total value of those acquisitions exceeded €3 billion and all of this contributed to United Group becoming the leading and fastest growing telecommunications and media company in Southeast Europe. Our revenues have tripled in the last three years and our operating profit (EBITDA) is €1 billion. The world’s largest rating agencies, S&P Global and Moody’s, have recognised United Group’s strong growth, as well as responsible financial management, and have positively revised their ratings of United Group’s operations and its prospects in the future”.
United Group goes on to say that Telekom Srbija ended 2022 with debts of almost €2 billion and these are likely to increase to €3 billion by the end of this year.
Furthermore, “the fact that Telekom (Srbija) has enormous financial problems is also evidenced by their attitude towards suppliers to whom they owe €475 million and to whom they have not paid for services for more than a year. Five years ago, they owed Serbian businessmen €176 million and now the amount of debt has grown to an incredible €500 million. This attitude of Telekom towards the companies that provide services for them threatens their survival and sets back the Serbian economy”.
United Group adds: “Despite the unprecedented and illegal support of the Serbian state to a company, Telekom Srbija achieves disastrous business results. Due to the financial situation in Telekom, the state does not announce a tender for the 5G network, because it knows that the state operator has no money for investments. Our company SBB asked for an auction for the 5G network, ready to invest €240 million s, because SBB has other United Group companies with it, which are proven to be among the most successful mobile networks in Europe, but everything has been stopped until Telekom collects the money, and because of this, Serbia will continue to lag behind the region”.
It concludes by calling for a level playing field in the Serbian market because its investments in Serbia “will be good for the economy and all citizens”.
