Positive reactions to Telenor purchase

Positive reactions to Telenor purchase

Serbian president Boris Tadić met with Telenor representatives, and said that such a large and serious investment is welcome in Serbia, since it will enable domestic experts to find work, create conditions for the country’s technological development and use of new technologies.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica said that with the sale of Mobi 63, the Government has shown the power of a lawful state at work and given results that will be positive for all of Serbia’s citizens and the state.

“The news that Mobi 63 has been sold for more than 1.5 billion euros will be heard around the world and this good news speaks best to foreign investors that the Serbian market and the Serbian economy are the right place for investments. I congratulate the Norwegian Telenor company and I welcome them to Serbia.” Koštunica said.

Democratic Party of Serbia official Andreja Mladenović said that the sale of Mobi 63 to Telenor will be a positive signal for other foreign investors in Serbia.

“This investment shows that the Norwegian company believes in the political stability of Serbia, and that the nation is edging closer to the European Union, that it is progressing and that good things are happening.” Mladenović said.

Serbian Finance Minister Mlađan Dinkić said that these kinds of investments will be felt by all of Serbia because the economy will grow stronger, employment will increase and Serbia will develop faster.

The Democratic Party called on the Serbian Government today to release information on the complete transactions behind the sale of Mobi 63 and how much the state gained from the sale.

“The Government needs to get this information into the light of day; how much money Schlaff invested in Mobi 63 and how much Bogoljub Karić received from the sale,” according to the party.

Democratic Party official Đorđe Todorović said that it is good that Telenor won the auction and that the party supports the entrance of the Norwegians into the Serbian market, who have in the past shown themselves as good investors and business partners.

Foreign Economic Relations Minister Milan Parivodić said that the sale of Mobi 63 is the largest foreign investment made in Serbia, which overshoots all of last year’s investments combined.

Parivodić said that he expects that foreign investments will reach 3.5 billion euros by the end of 2006, which will be more than twice the amount received last year.

As far as important pending privatisations are concerned, he is also expecting that the Vojvođanska Bank will be sold for about 385 million euros this year.

Parivodić also expects that the prices of mobile phone service will fall because of Telenor and the fact that competition in the telecommunication market will be much stiffer.

Serbian Economy Minister Predrag Bubalo said that the price for which Mobi 63 was sold exceeded all of his expectations

Former Economy and privatization minister Aleksandar Vlahović told B92 that the government made a good deal. “I say this bearing in mind the income that Serbia is set to gain, and that three serious companies took part. It is now evident this government is capable of organizing public transactions following the rules of the game”, Vlahović said.

“I believe this money will go to investments, since we need to raise the level of existing infrastructure in order to make the country more attractive to foreign investors. This can only be done by the state, and I hope these investments won’t be used for campaigning purporses. The money certainly should not go to spending”, Vlahović said.

“I think this is a good sale, that the price is on its upper limits as far as the investor is concerned, and far above the expected. An approximate price is calculated taking into account the number of subscribers, therefore the price achieved here is exceptional”, he said.

Stojan Stamenković, an economist, says that the price of 1,5 billion euros is good, but that this amount of money “will without a doubt make an inflatory pressure”.

He told Beta news agency that he could not state a percentage of inflation caused by the sale, since he was unaware of the pace and structure of the planned spending, adding that the government's announcements on the investments that will be made using the money gained by Mobi63 sale are “fairly unclear”.

“Serbian needs investments”, he said, but expressed his concern that the majority of funds will still overflow into spending, “since whatever investment you make, a part of it goes to salaries.”

Stamenković added that no one had expected the price to be that high, and expressed his satisfaction at the fact the company was ultimately acquired by the Norwegians.

Jasna Matić, SIEPA director, said that the agency was pleased with the fact Telenor has become the largest single investor in Serbia.

“This is an excellent message sent from Serbia, especially when you consider that the necessary precondition for our country’s development is precisely the development of the telecommunications infrastructure. This is also need for sustainable high rate of economic growth we have had in the past couple of years. It is well known that the Scandinavians are leaders in the field of telecommunications and new technologies in general, and Telenor is the best example. No doubt Telenor’s participation in our market will entice other investors from Norway and other Scandinavian countries to consider doing business in Serbia. We expect Telenor to give a major impulse to the establishment of a modern and transparent legal framework in this area of great significance, for years riddled by abuse of power and even crime”, Matić concluded.

The Danish telecommunications analyst Jon Strand is well acquainted with the Serbian market and has no doubt that Telenor has made a good decision buying Mobi63. Strand says that a price this high can improve the status of other companies owned by Telenor. “This is a part of Telenor’s strategy. It is interesting to note that Mobi63 will make almost more than Telenor itself. The Serbian company has so far lacked professional owners, but that now changes. Technologically, Mobi63 can gain much”.

Strand’s consulting company has three clients in Serbia, and this makes him so well acquainted with the local market. “It’s a country emerging from isolation. It’s been through a war recently, a crisis and political instability. When Mobi63 teams up with professionals, it could be very exciting to watch”, Strand concluded.

Miloje Kanjevac of the Institute for market research pointed out that “every time someone else provides the money, there is no inflation, and we should not be worried about that”.  

According to him, it is still strange to see someone happy to have sold something that worked very well, bought by someone else very gladly. 

“If these funds acquired through the sale are channeled in the right direction there can still be a slight rise in inflation figures that will then be balanced with production growth, so as far as inflation goes, we should not fear it”, Kanjevac concluded.

Media reactions

Financial Times' Neil MacDonald writes from Belgrade that  "Serbia on Monday completed the disposal of a mobile phone network in the country’s largest privatisation deal to date, giving support to investor confidence in the face of lingering political problems.

Telenor, the Norwegian mobile telecommunications company, made the winning €1.51bn ($1.9bn, £1bn) bid for the state-controlled Mobi 63 network, which claims 45 per cent market share.

The winning bid outstripped government expectations for the sale of the company, which recently came under state control after its private-sector main shareholder fled Serbia amid accusations of corruption. Privatisation officials said they had expected the auction would easily top €1bn, including the €220m licence price, but “not go this high”.

Telenor - already active in neighbouring Montenegro - won 100 per cent ownership plus a 10-year operating licence for Mobi 63 over regional rival Telekom Austria after eight rapid-fire bidding rounds.

The brisk bidding “shows there are not so many assets left” in the regional telecoms market, said Martin Schlaff, head of an Austrian private-investment group that held 30 per cent of Mobi 63 prior to the sale. “Obviously the bidders who went so far strongly believe [in Serbia’s growth potential].”

Before the Mobi 63 sale, Serbia’s largest privatisation was the €518m sale of Nis Tobacco to US-based cigarette company Philip Morris in 2003.

Serbia - still nursing political wounds from its 1990s wars - trails behind its neighbours in free-market economic reforms. Yet some investors say the former Yugoslavia’s most populous republic is ripe for foreign investment as other ex-communist markets cool down.

Mr Schlaff said he would have liked to hold on to his Mobi 63 shares, though “not for that kind of money”. The government insisted he sell as part of the same package to a major strategic investor.

The Schlaff group had first bought into the local mobile service provider - known until four months ago as Mobtel Serbia - as majority owner, buying 51 per cent from a family company led by Serbian entrepreneur Boguljub Karic.

Mr Karic fell foul of the authorities and fled the country earlier this year to avoid bribery charges. The government - his co-owner and supposed partner - also accused him of hiding dividends from their joint venture.

In April, the government reached a debt settlement with Mr Schlaff, opening the way for re-privatisation under the new brand, Mobi 63, which has about 2.5m users.

Telenor officials said they were not worried about legal risks arising from Mr Karic’s former involvement.

Telekom Austria, however, said it declined to bid higher for Mobi 63 because it saw more promise in going after the expected third mobile network licence."

B92 vistor reactions

The Telenor purchase of Mobi63 for over 1.5 billion euros has sparked an avalanche of reactions on our web site as well. Most visitors are excited and enthusisatic with the news that another mobile telecommunications operator will raise the competition in the Serbian market, imporove the quality of services and introduce new technologies, such as 3G. Here are just some of the reactions...

- Way to go for the buyer and the price is good … as good as it could be. This is the best thing that could happen in the process of Mobtel selling, but let's be realistic here: it's only a very small price to pay for a company when it comes to the telecommunication business. Compared to any international or even European ownership transfer, this is only peanuts. And if the Austrians weren't there to assist in this haggling by making the price higher, the company would be sold for even smaller price. Bravo for those who managed to do this much.

(I., August 1, 2006  13:10)

This is not such a big gain as it seems! The price is great, but… How much money has the state lost this year, when they didn't make a single dinar from Mobtel? This investment is timely and necessary, but, unfortunately, when all the deductions are made for the previous years when the state didn't get what they should have from this company, it turns out that we haven't gained so much by selling it!

(Plikuscht, 1. august 2006 13:38) 
And what has Karic done that was so phenomenal? Has he invented mobile telephony? Has he made ground stations? Or just smelled a lucrative business? He has just learnt from abroad how to earn a large amount of money, managed to get the license for doing this for nothing, together with the permission to be the only one in the business, and he simply couldn't fail! This price is certainly not paid because the company is well organized, but because there is a great potential to make more money in this market. And Karic is a thief!
(boki,  August 1, 2006 13:45) 

We could do with another Dinkic, or even more of him! We all thought he was tilting at windmills, and he eventually won this battle for real! Well done, bravo for the selling! The money should now be invested in the development of this country and in new jobs. I just hope that they will not manage to steal all of it!
(Misha, August 1, 2006 13:51) 

It's a good thing that it has been sold, both for the state and for this Government, and even for the people and for the individuals that managed to make some money from this. Everybody won, except for Karic, of course. It is still difficult to make comments on the information released for the general public, because if this market is really this important and full of potential, then the reactions so far are OK, but if this company is really worth the while (together with the market it operates in), then the previous owner and their management team is certainly to be thanked for creating such a value. Why did they thank the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice for such a great deal for the benefit of the state? Can we be sure that everything was done in a legal way? And what would happen if Karic were more powerful (and if they like "didn't prosecute" him) and richer than he is? Would the international arbitration resolve the case to his advantage? Who is Schlaff working for (besides Telecom Austria)? Will Telecom Austria be awarded for what they did by becoming the third mobile network operator? The moves in this game were made wisely and the risk was taken. I just hope that the Government will do the same with the acres of cultivated land, trade monopolies and sugar refineries. This modes has done well, let's go on with it now!
(zorica, August 1, 2006 14:49)   

The arrival of Telenor will only symbolically increase competition and lower the price of the services they offer. With 1.5 billion of Euros they have bought the position that is very close to the monopoly position, and the rest is for the 063 network users to pay, and that is US! I would personally be much happier if the price was lower, because ordinary citizens will not benefit from this money at all. The only beneficiaries will be those who are close to the decision makers, different chairpersons of different commissions, consortiums, and owners of the companies that will "carry out" the investments!
 (zORAn, August 1, 2006  14:54) 

• You've done the right thing, way to go. Your should now focus on the future, and all this money should be invested wisely, for the development of infrastructure, and I here think of roads, bridges, renovation and building of modern highroads. We shall certainly all benefit from that, and nobody will lose anything, that's for sure.
(lidia, August 1, 2006 08:48)

• It's kind of interesting that nobody is angry now that the best Serbian companies are being sold out. If you remember, during the mandate of Djindjic's Government all the media were talking about that, experts were demanding that the less successful companies be sold, and not the best ones. Well, I wouldn't exactly say that Mobtel could be put in the category of the less successful Serbian companies. 
However, nobody can say that this sale was a failure. There are only two things that I am bothered with, and those are hypocrisy and short memory. And especially so in the context of law abiding state, when everybody seem to forget the way in which Karic was banished from this business. And I am far from supporting or liking him.
(Miloš, August 1, 2006 09:36)

• The price is acceptable. And so is Telenor, too. 
I can only hope that the Serbian Government will manage to use this money in a right and fair way, in the long-term and sustainable strategies that will positively influence our economic development, the overall increase of the number of the employed, overall improvement of the standard of living and so on. I also hope that Belgrade and its surrounding areas will not be the only place where all the money will be invested.
(Mitar, Kosovo and Metohia, August 1, 2006 09:40)

• Fast progress for Serbia with only 1.5 billion Euros? Well, I think that we are exaggerating a bit here. The money will disappear as easy and quickly as it came, and I can only hope that it will be invested properly, but I fear that we'll be hearing about new scandals that will come about in connection to this money.
(Mesa, August 1, 2006 09:59)

• As an ordinary citizen I hail with satisfaction the transparency of Mobtel sale, and I congratulate the Government on that. Mr. Cvetkovic extended his congratulations in the interview he gave yesterday to the RTS to everybody who took part in the biggest sale of all. I think that he failed to congratulate those who built up Mobtel in the first place to become a company that, as it turned out, has been worth more than 1.5 billion Euros.
(dejan, August 1, 2006 10:06)

• BRAVO, for the only good thing that happened in this unfortunate country over the last xxx years. It's interesting that Karic kept saying that Mobtel only managed to survive, and these people have just given all this money to buy it… Mladjan (Dinkic, the Finance Minister), just keep up the good work of introducing some order here!
(Direktor, August 1,  2006 11:41)

• Bravo for the price! I hope that the Serbian people will benefit at least a bit from this 1,155 million Euros, but I'm afraid that this will not happen at all. On the other hand, it's still not clear to me how could they call Karic a thief when he managed to build up a company worth 1.5 billion Euros. I am not sure that there is any other company that is both private and state owned, which is worth even one tenth of this sum… Nice deal, though!
(Djura, Pariz, August 1, 2006 11:44)

• It is interesting that the state officials keep pointing out that the fact that Telenor entered this market 'will increase competition and serve to decrease the price of the services they offer'. If the Government is so much interested in bringing the price of this service down, they can easily do so through its own operator, Telekom Srbija.
(Max, August 1, 2006 12:11)

• The real gain here is in fact that Telenor will bring in the new technologies, and that will be the true step forward for our country. The other important thing is that Norway is by far the richest country in the world, and if Telenor manages to do well in our market, and I cannot see why they wouldn't, more Norwegian investors will come following them. Let alone the fact that we'll be able to make cheaper and better quality phone calls. And if they, God will, manage to buy the other, fixed phone network , or even to become the second landline operator ,and by doing that take us out of the Stone Age, that will be even better! Anyway, this is great news for Serbia.
(milos, August 1, 2006 12:20)

• "...Milan Kovacevic says that the price paid for Mobi 63 was smaller than its market value...".

I do not have a PhD in Economics, but I did graduated from the Faculty of Economics, and I think that the abovementioned statement, if correctly broadcast/published, is, to say the least, inappropriate. The market value cannot be calculated, assessed or measured, in any way. Market value is precisely the sum that someone is willing to pay for a product or service in the market, regardless of whether it is a mobile operator or tomato in a green market. Mobi 63 costs and is worth precisely the sum that has been paid for it, and not a penny more, and we'll simply have to live with it. Unless, of course, the times of self-government economy and joined work returns, and the value of Mobi063, the  socially owned company, will be a completely different thing, which could be discussed further….
(Dragan, July 31, 2006 15:15)

• It is a bizarre thing that the Mobtel Internet site has no information of the sell, and the Telenor site has published it. I could cry from joy when I heard that Telenor entered the Serbian market! I can't wait to see the inscription 'Telenor Serbia', or something like that on my mobile phone display :)
(Makki, July 31, 2006 15:17)

• Super. They should now sell MTS (064). After that, a tender should be called for the third license for a mobile phone operator, and it is only then that we'll be in a position to speak about true competition in our market.
(ExNS, July 31., 2006 16:17)

• I am working with a global financial institution, and I have an opportunity to see similar business deals first hand very often. I have never seen such enthusiasm of the local population only because one company has been sold to another company. The reaction is similar to the exhilaration of native population of some remote island when the colonist showed them a mirror or multicoloured string. Really!
(LondonCalling, July 31, 2006 16:18)

• Once the euphoria caused by such a large amount of money that was paid for a Serbian company passes, I would like to hear who and in which way, or according to which criteria, will manage this impressive amount of money. Please be kind and keep us, ordinary citizens, regularly informed on priorities in Serbia that have been built of this money. Say, supersonic railroads, huh?
(potop, July 31, 2006 16:18)

• Way to go, Dinkic! It is only now that we can really see what a large amount of money Karic was about to take for himself! Will this Government ever make him return the money he took?
(bata, July 31, 2006 16:23)

• Do you see now what G17 are doing, and what the Radicals are talking about? Will you have more foreign investments that are worth billions of Euros, or will you keep waging wars with NATO over Kosovo? This is a good indicator for our future election options…
(Rista, July 31, 2006 16:39)

• I am completely sure that such a lousy Government will invest millions of Euros in their forthcoming election campaign. If this purchase contribute in any way to the future rule of Kostunica and Dinkic, whom I can hardly bear to look at, then I will consider this to be a piece of bad news!
(Skeptik, July 31,  2006 16:56)

• And what can an ordinary citizen like me expect to see from this purchase in the future?
(VASA, July 31, 2006 17:07)

• Ok, but I would like to know when exactly we can expect to see improvements owing to this purchase. How long will we have to wait for the new tariffs, new models of mobile phones, new technologies and so on?
(lipsali magarac, July 31, 2006 17:55)

• I live in Norway, and I am not in the least surprised to hear that Telenor has bought Mobi63. That company is a giant, and the sum is peanuts for them. They will earn ten times more in ten years only. Good luck!
(Viking, July 31, 2006 19:59)

• Great news, I live in Oslo for years now, and I have been using the services of this company. I am happy with their services and they are really professional. I wish more Norwegian companies would come to Serbia. Takk
(Branko, July 31, 2006 20:25)

• Why are you people so happy about this purchase? Let the Serbian Government explain to us why this price has been obtained only. Let them explain to us exactly what they managed to put into that contract. For the next three years Serbia will not sell another license for the third mobile operator, and indirectly this sum of 1,513,000.000 Euros will be paid by the Serbian citizens through their bills, since there will still be a monopoly, or an oligopoly to be, of Telecom and Telenor. I am glad that Telenor decided to invest in Serbia, but I am not in the least happy that the Serbian Government decided to keep deceiving the citizens by publishing only a part of information on the purchase of Mobi 63 company. The Government can only get a + for the great manipulation skills.
(Mises, July 31,  2006 20:35)

• If I remember the text on strategy for telecommunication development in Serbia correctly, and the text was published in the Official Gazette of Serbia, it read that "the licence for the third operator cannot be issued for another 30 months after the purchase of the Mobi 63 company, except in case that the interested party offers the same price for the licence as the purchaser of the Mobi 63 company. (And it is some 320 millions of Euros, if I remember correctly).
(the third operator, July 31,  2006 22:48)

• They bought it cheaply! The total annual profit from mobile telephony in Serbia is between 2 and 2.5 billion Euros at the least. Let Telenor take two thirds of the market, and they will get their money back in some 2 or 3 years, even if they decide to make more investments!
(Nebojsa, July 31, 2006 23:25)

• This is of course a large amount of money, and our hopes that the money will be invested wisely are high, too. If they start buying social peace again, it will all end up badly for us in just a couple of years. The Government should take a bit of risk, and invest money in economy in order to get an internationally competitive product or service coupled with new jobs, instead of distributing the money directly to the unemployed through welfare services. I hope that my comment is clear.
(Opet Ja, July 31, 2006 11:37)

• Congratulations both to the Norwegians and to the Government. It was a great business move!
(nsv, July 31, 2006 11:38)

• I can only hope that the Norwegians will not increase the price of their services.
(duh iz boce, July 31, 2006 11:39)

• Bravo Norway :) ! If only the Danes would come with their Dynaudio speakers...:), joking aside, this company is one of the first serious companies that have come to Serbia. Welcome!
(pele, July 31, 2006 11:40)

• Telenor has recently bought Vodafone Sweden, and not the whole Vodafone Company. Vodafone is still the biggest international mobile telephony operator.
(Fry, July 31, 2006 11:43)

• The same thing happened years ago when the Greeks and Italians bought Telekom Srbija and injected 2 billions of dollars in the Milosevic era. I just hope that the Government will not use this money to fill in the holes in their budget. One thing is for sure, and that is that ordinary citizens will not benefit a bit from this money. Bank accounts in some exotic islands and hilly countries have already been opened, and by the end of this year, only crumbs will remain here.
(blok63, July 31, 2006 11:44)

• SUCH NEWS, after all the daily stupidities and rubbish of our leading politicians GIVES ME THE HOPE that THERE IS SOME LIFE in SERBIA, and that SERBIA will become a EU country after all!!!
A big hello for the Scandinavians and God will there will be more investors like this one!!!!
(Aleksandra, July 31, 2006 11:45)

• Great!!!
It was only a year ago that the state had no influence at all in Mobtel, and today, in a completely transparent way, it has managed to bring the biggest foreign investment in Serbia ever!
Congratulations to the Serbian Government and to the Finance Minister Dinkic, who did everything to achieve such a bonus for this country!
After so many minuses, a big plus for the Government!!!
(Александар, July 31, 2006 11:45)

• I'm glad that this happened, it is a serious company. Still, we should not expect that the prices will go down, since they are known for keeping their prices high, and for making them lower only when they really have to do that...
(Vik, July 31, 2006 11:46)

• We want the THIRD and the FOURTH operator! The free market! Cheap impulses!
(Zoran, July 31, 2006 11:50)

• Don't just be so happy about the price, because you cannot tell what lurks behind it. This is exactly what happened in Croatia, when we were so happy because T-com gave so much money for the HT shares, and it was only after that one by one, 'provisions' of the contract they signed came to the surface, and the Germans' investment paid back in only 2 or 3 years….
(Dejan, July 31, 2006 11:53)

• They have already announced the news in Telenor Internet site that they took over Mobi63! This is the kind of efficiency we need, and we can only hope that it will be 'contagious' enough for the rest of our society.
(Deki, July 31, 2006 11:53)

• This is really a fantastic piece of news, because Telenor is very experienced company in the mature mobile markets, and also in the emerging markets. Besides the mother company in Norway, they own 9 more companies, including Vimpelcom (Russia), Digi (Malaysia) and Kyivstar (Ukraine), with more than 82 millions of users. It is interesting that Telenor is currently focused on the so called 'Quadruple play', or a unique package of services that includes mobile voice communication, fixed voice communication, Internet and IP TV. Since they will probably want to become a hybrid operator in Serbia, too, it only remains to be seen how this scenario will influence the rather monopolistic position of Telekom Srbija. And besides that, they will probably offer a set of services for business orientated users, the so called IP PBX and IP Centrex solutions, which will, as I hope, bring in some freshness in the sleepy business markets in Serbia.
(gagi, July 31, 2006 11:55)

• Way to go!
Such an outcome has many advantages for us. One of the biggest and best operators internationally will come to this market. And besides the big financial benefit for this state, this is at the same time a great political benefit. Such a high price is a signal for other foreign investors that Serbia is a country to invest in.
Good luck.
(Srdjan, July 31, 2006 12:00)

• This is another victory for Dinkic. I cannot speak about his personal qualities, but he is no doubt good at what he is doing. He always does what he plans to do. He has sent away that Karic character, and cashed in a nice sum in the Serbian Government budget, and owing to him, the popularity of the Serbian Radical Party has decreased significantly these days. Way to go, Mladja!
(milan, July 31, 2006 12:06)

• As an ICT professional, I can only say that this is a big company that has for years now been interested in entering the Serbian market. A very serious people, with a lot of know-how that will now (together with 1.5 billions) come to Serbia. We are welcoming both this company and their investment. Welcome Telenor!

(St., July 31, 2006 12:44)

• Good news, in spite of the proven fact that a good deal of this money will end up in the black holes in this country. Telenor has played wisely, too - Mobi63 would never be sold for such a big amount of money if there weren't for the duopoly in Serbia. They will have to cooperate with Telekom because Telekom has the biggest number of users and the whole of fixed telephony and telecommunications infrastructure, which will all make them become partners and not competitors. Thing will pretty much remain the same, with the only exception that half the money that 063 network makes will not go to Karic but to Telenor instead. We should not expect any reasonable decrease in prices nor any improvement in quality of telecommunications services until this market is completely open.
(Aleksandar, July 31, 2006 12:48)

• Just read this from the Telenor Internet site:
www.telenor.com
/----------------------------
In the second quarter of 2006, Telenor's revenues increased by 37 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2005, reaching NOK 22.6 billion. Profit before taxes was NOK 3.9 billion.
/----------------------------
the amount of money that they have invested in Serbia in one half of the profit made in 3 months on average!!! Well, they rule...
(Milance, July 31, 2006 12:55)

• As I can see, Kovacevic has already started criticising… this is really incredible!!! It's only for Prokopijevic and Gligorov now to say what they usually have to say, like, Mobtel has been sold for peanuts money, and so on, ... that is disgusting!
(Igor, July 31, 2006 13:00)

• Well, this character, Milan Kovacevic, the so-called "consultant for foreign investments", which has recently opted for the Slovenian model of transition (which is without any foreign investments!!??), and which is all the time filmed with his lap top in front of him, should really not be given so much space in media. It is really odd that some people are not ashamed to do such things!
(M., July 31, 2006 13:16)

• Great price for Mobtel that nobody expected. Telenor is for sure the best option, not only out of the three operators, but also out of all the companies that applied for the tender here. This is corroborated by its position in the Info Tech 100 list of the Business Week magazine (http://bwnt.businessweek.com/ it100/2006/index.asp), in which it is on the 25th place, before such companies like Microsoft or Hewlett-Packard.
(Boris, July 31, 2006 13:19)

• B R A V O !
My congratulations not to the Government, but to Minister Dinkic. I would like to remind you to all the things that he had to go through when he fought his battle against Karic, and especially for the Mobtel company. Even at the time when Karic was bold enough to advise us on how to sell lettuce.

The selling of Mobtel to such a good buyer is the success of the decade. Firstly, owing to such a high price that was paid, and also for the fact that we managed to make them trust our Government again, and what this Government has achieved has in fact been achieved by the individuals in it.

(Evropljanka, July 31, 2006 13:19)

• This is a small step for Government and a big one for Serbia, at last a proof that the sad cases of Smederevo mill, Popovac and Knjaz Milos companies will not happen again, together with some other tenders that we know and do not know about. Dinkic has showed to all of us how things should and can be done professionally, and the gentlemen from the Democratic Party that would like to go in the privatization business should first attend some classes and learn the lessons from the Finance Minister.
(Milos, July 31, 2006 13:21)

• Our sincere congratulations! We can't wait to starting the concrete cooperation and working with the new owner and employer.
We also expect the necessary changes in the CN management structures to take place.
(MOBTEL employees, July 31, 2006 13:26)

• Bravo!!!
We have eagerly waited for the new owner and employer to come. We are also waiting for the changes in the management structures now!!!
Way to go to our Norwegian friends!
(Legal Issues Department of MOBI 63, July 31, 2006 13:27)

• Way to go!
The Norwegians are a serious company! They own Promonte 069, and the services they provide are top class! Fantastic!
(radun.s, July 31, 2006 14:46)

• Congratulations!
I think that the best operator has been chosen. The Norwegians have bought Vodafone lately, too.
(Scandinavia, July 31, 2006 11:07)

• I applaud for Norwegians, and you can see for yourselves in which countries they have operated so far. Serbia should be among those countries, too.
(Darko, July 31, 2006 10:32)

• 1.513.000.000 Euros !!!
FANTASTIC price, and nobody thought it would be so high, and Norwegian Telenor has won!!!
Congratulations to the Norwegian company, and also to the Serbian Government, and especially to the Finance Minister, Mladjan Dinkic!
(kiki, July 31, 2006 11:05)

• It is not enough that they sold Mobi 063, they should let the third operator enter this market, to lower the price of mobile telephony services.
(Nemam vremena, July 31, 2006 09:35)

• It's over!
Norway based Telenor has won for 1.513.000 Euros!
And their first offer exceeded this price for almost 500 millions Euros!
(Goran, July 31, 2006 11:04)

• This is for the best. All the luck for the new owners and for us, the users.
(Dusan, July 3l 2006 11:14)

• Yes, it's far more than 800 millions Euros, the price that Dinkic talked about... or, should we say that Karic was right when he spoke about some 1.3 billions...
(Drasko, July 31,  2006 11:15)

• This is really, really, a lot of money. I hope that the high price per minute of our conversations over the mobile phones has not been guaranteed to them for such a high price that they paid for the company.
(dejan, July 31, 2006 11:15)

• THE PRICE IS SKY HIGH , but I suppose that they know what they're doing. I can mentally picture Dinkic and his facial expression of sheer delight… In any case, price apart, but I really like the fact that it was the Scandinavians that outbid the rest of them. It is the right mentality for us, this is what we need, a calm, collected and hard working owner!
(lazar bojanić, a moderate critic, July 31, 2006 11:17)

• I am really and sincerely happy, since I hoped that Norwegians would win. They were serious about it all, and to show that, they offered their bid in a sealed envelope. It was so because they did not intend to come and buy something cheaply and they run away with it, but instead they wanted to stay here a achieve something long-term. Congratulations, I am happy for you. A о63 network user
(Драган М, July 31, 2006 11:20)

• Wow! Telenor is the most serious company that has so far appeared in Serbia. And their entrance was a great one. Great move, bravo for the Government!
(Milenko Trojanovic, July 31, 2006 11:20)

• What a great amount of cash money...wow!!!:-)
(Vlada BG, July 31, 2006 11:23)

• Congratulations, of course, but I still wanted Austria to win. I am not disappointed, though, this is a billion for us to invest further, and I hope that some amount will find its way to the judiciary, and another to the Pancevo bridge, which I have to cross each and every day.
(Sladjana, July 31, 2006 11:24)

• Congratulations!
This will be a link between Promonte and Mobtel, which means that we'll pay less when in roaming !!!!!
(sasa, July 31, 2006 11:24)

• Finally good news for us! I was all for Telenor, since I use their network when I am in roaming in Hungary and in Montenegro. We shall certainly see that the first foreign investment in telecommunications field will bring the expected changes in our country.
(Csongor, July 31, 2006 11:27)

• A clever move. From a company based in a smart country with so much of cash money that they almost don't know what else to do with it … and so they've decided to come to spend it in Serbia.
I just hope that the Government will not spend the money to pay the salaries to workers in companies that are financially ruined and to pay for their election campaign, but in stead to invest it in clever projects and infrastructure in the first place.
(neon, July 31, 2006 11:28)

• Way to go! A serious company and finally a real competitor in this field, hopefully it will be the end of monopolies of all kinds!

The only thing I am interested in now is what are the projects that this money will be invested in. I just hope that some other cities and towns will see at least some of that money, not all of it has to be spent in Belgrade!!!
(++ns++, July 31, 2006 11:30)

• WAY TO GO!
The best and the richest company has won!
IT'S JUST THAT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHEN EXACTLY THEY WILL START WORKING IN MOBTEL OFFICIALLY.
(Strahinja, July 31, 2006 11:31)

• Congratulations to the Scandinavians!! TELEKOM Srbija needs competitors, and when they get them, we can hope that our fixed telephony will become better, too. What is going on in "Telekom Srbija" is really ruthless and retrogressive!
(Bojan, July 31, 2006 11:34)