[May 13, 2005] Telekom Austria Group Welcomes Support of Austrian Vice Chancellor for its Expansion into Serbia Tweet VIENNA, Austria, May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Telekom Austria (VSE:TKA; NYSE:TKA) announced today that the Vice Chancellor and Minister for Infrastructure Hubert Gorbach, following a meeting with his Serbian counterpart Velimir Ilic, confirmed the support of the Austrian government for mobilkom austria's intention to purchase a stake in the Serbian mobile operator Mobtel. On Thursday, May 12, 2005 it was reported in Vienna that the co-owner of Mobtel, Bogoljub Karic, had signed an agreement to sell his 51% stake in Mobtel to a consortium of Austrian investors, Martin Schlaff, Josef Taus and Herbert Cordt. This transaction resolves the previous deadlock regarding the ownership of Mobtel. Boris Nemsic, CEO mobilkom Austria and COO Wireless of the Telekom Austria Group said: "We have already expressed our interest in the Serbian market, which would perfectly fit in our CEE strategy, and reiterate our intention to proceed. We currently have international operations in Croatia and Slovenia and have recently acquired a call option to takeover the Bulgarian operator Mobiltel." The government of Serbia is expected to start a tender process for the sale of its stake in Mobtel soon. Contacts: Peter Zydek Head of Investor Relations Phone: +43-(0)59059-1-19000 E-Mail: [email protected] Martin Bredl Head of Corporate Communications Tel: +43-(0)59059-1-11001 E-Mail: [email protected] Telekom Austria AG CONTACT: Contacts: Peter Zydek, Head of Investor Relations, Phone:+43-(0)59059-1-19000, E-Mail: [email protected]; MartinBredl, Head of Corporate Communications, Tel:+43-(0)59059-1-11001, E-Mail: [email protected] [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]