Telekom Slovenije to Expand to Croatia, Serbia

Ljubljana, 6 March

Telecoms incumbent Telekom Slovenije said it intends to expand to Croatia and Serbia this year. "We are keeping an eye on these and other markets in the region," chief executive Bojan Dremelj told the press on Thursday.

Dremelj would not divulge the details of the expansion. "We will not disclose the hows and whens at this point," he said.
Telekom is already present in the Republic Srpska part of Bosnia and Herzegovina with internet service provider Blic.net, but now it plans to expand to the rest of the country as well.
Its other markets in the region, Macedonia and Kosovo, were in the focus in terms of broadband development last year.
This year it is the turn of Albania and Bosnia, said vice president for international operations and carriers Dusan Mitic.
In Macedonia as well as Albania, where it owns the ISPs On.net and Ipko respectively, Telekom will seek to expand to mobile telephony provision as a virtual mobile network operator, said Mitic.
In addition, Telekom has started building an international optical network which will connect all of its subsidiaries. Certain parts of the network are already operational, according to Mitic.
Telekom saw sales increase 5% to EUR 786m in 2007, with net profit down 15% to EUR 87.8m. Dremelj said the results were good considering the trends affecting all European operators.
He said the company was not surprised with lower profit, as the group earmarked EUR 380m for investment, whereas sources of finance had gotten more expensive.
Profit is expected to increase this year, but not if a big potential investment appears, said Dremelj, pointing to the possibility that Bosnian telecoms incumbent BH Telecom may be put up for sale.
"If we see opportunities for further growth...we believe it is right to invest for the future, even at the expense of lower short-term profitability," Dremelj said.

Telekom Slovenije to Expand to Croatia, Serbia

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