BH Telecom and Telekom Srpske to be probed by BCC (Bosnia)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Bosnia Competition Council (BCC) is planning to set an enquiry against Bosnian telcos BH Telecom and Telekom Srpske following complaints by Sarajevo-based alternative operator Akt.online. Akt’s initial application was filed earlier last year.
The argument given by the company was that both BH Telecom and Telekom Srpske were in violation of existing competition regulations following difficulties in agreeing interconnection terms with both operators.
Although after reaching agreements with both the companies, Akt has contended that these violate current competition norms. Besides, the operator has also not been offered the use of leased line services, violating Article 10 of the country’s Communications Act.
BH Telecom and Telekom Srpske will now be required to submit any documentation requested by the antitrust watchdog.
MTEL stake eyed by Telekom Srpske
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Amsterdam-based holding company Ogalar and Bosnian telco Telekom Srpske are in negotiation with each other regarding the purchase of a 49% stake in Montenegrin cellco MTEL.
The remaining 50 percent of MTEL is owned by Telekom Srbija whose 80 percent is owned by the Serbian government and 20% by Greece’s OTE. Meanwhile, 65 percent of Telekom Srpske is owned by Telekom Srbija and 25% owned by three funds based in Republika Srpska (10% by a privatization fund, 10% by the company’s Pension and Life Assurance Fund and 5% by its Restitution Fund).
10 percent of the company is owned by public.
Telekom Srpske to receive converged backbone solution from Alca-Lu
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: French-US vendor Alcatel-Lucent and Bosnia’s Telekom Srpske signed a deal to consolidate the telco’s IP and optical networks into a leveraged IP network infrastructure. According to Predrag Culibrk, Telekom Srpske’s general manager, the deal will enable the company to provide its business and residential customers a wide range of beneficial, easy-to-use broadband services.
Converged Backbone Transformation solution which more tightly integrates IP and optical transport resources will be provided by Alca-Lu enabling service providers to optimise and leverage their transport networks to deal with the growing demand for bandwidth.
The solution will not only allow for a reduction of the number of required network elements, but will also improve efficiencies in power and rack space, simplify network provisioning and fault management, minimise latency, and enhance reliability.
Telekom Srpske bid deadline extended for a second time
The privatisation committee of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s autonomous Republika Srpska (RS) has extended the deadline for bids for the region’s incumbent operator Telekom Srpske for a second time, from 3 November to 20 November; the original date was 4 October. The extra time has been requested by the bidders, according to the RS President Milorad Dodik. Eleven international companies have shown an interest in the sale of a 65% stake in Telekom, according to Reuters. Tender documents for the privatisation have reportedly been purchased by Telekom Serbia, Mobilkom Austria, Magyar Telekom of Hungary and Russia’s Sistema Telecom. Further interest has come from Elisa Communications of Finland, Iceland’s Matav Madarska Novator, Telenor of Norway, Valiva of Switzerland and Planetsky of Cyprus, all of which have signed a confidentiality statement showing interest in the purchase of the documents. The minimum starting price for bidding has been set at EUR400 million (USD640 million).
Source- telegeography Wireless Mobile Telecom
