The Slovenian state telecommunications operator Telekom Slovenije announced that it has acquired a 75 percent stake in the Albanian Internet service provider Albanian Online Service Provider (AOL SP) for 3.97 million euros.
In addition to the purchase price of 3.97 million euros, Telekom Slovenije has committed to a capital injection of five million euros and will invest an additional 18 to 20 million euros in infrastructure and new services over the next five years, announced the head of the Slovenian company Bojan Dremelj. By entering the Albanian market, the Slovenian operator has rounded out its presence in the Albanian-speaking region, as it is already present in North Macedonia and Kosovo. The latest acquisition is expected to provide Slovenians with a more effective and successful performance in these markets. Albania has a population of 3.5 million and only 285 thousand fixed-line telephone connections, or just nine connections per 100 inhabitants, which represents enormous growth potential, Telekom Slovenije emphasizes.
According to the Slovenian company, Albanian AOL SP is the leading provider of Internet connection and VoIP services and is the only one with its own mobile network as well as an optical cable network. It has three thousand clients for Internet connection services and holds an 88 percent stake in Albanian Fiber Backbone, the owner of the optical cable network in Tirana and several other Albanian cities. These two companies generated a revenue of 2.6 million euros last year and a net profit of nearly half a million euros. In addition to its home country, Telekom Slovenije is also present in Croatia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, and Gibraltar, serving a total market of 20 million clients. It is on the brink of privatization, and the deadline for submitting non-binding offers for the purchase of 49.13 percent of its shares expired on Monday. (H)
