“This acquisition will … enable us to cover the entire Albanian territory,” Dusan Mitic, vice president of Telekom’s management board told a news conference. Telekom made its first purchase in Albania last year when it bought the country’s biggest Internet service provider AOL SP as a part of the company’s plan to expand in the markets of southeastern Europe and Mediterranean. Mitic also said it had signed a letter of intent to buy an alternative Bosnian operator but gave no more details.

Telekom also said it plans to participate in the privatization of Bosnia’s largest telecoms operator BH-Telecom, a process which has been blocked by the Bosnian parliament for about two years due to differing views over the sell-off model. Telekom, which earlier on Friday reported a 3% rise in its Q1 net profit, also has units in Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Gibraltar. Telekom has a market capitalization of €1.6 billion. (Reuters)