Authorities in Kosovo have reportedly revoked the licence of MTS Kosovo, a subsidiary of Telekom Srbija, with “seemingly” immediate effect.
In a statement, Telekom Srbija – owned by the Serbian state – decried the move by the Business Registration Agency (Agjencise per Regjistrimin e Bizneseve, ARBK) as lacking “factual and legal basis.”
MTS Kosovo was founded under the EU-brokered Brussels Agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, which requires all of the operator’s senior officials to use identification documents issued by Pristina authorities. Kosovo’s complaint appears to be based on a member of MTS Kosovo’s management allegedly holding a passport issued by the Republic of Serbia.
Local media have reported different reasons for the licence revocation, although Telekom Srbija accused media outlets of propagating inaccurate allegations. MTS Kosovo was placed on a sanction list by the Ministry of Industry Entrepreneurship and Trade (Ministarstvo Industrije, Preduzetnistva i Trgovine, MIPT) for filing registration documents in an “unconstitutional” fashion – specifically, for listing addresses located within Kosovar territory as being within Serbia.
Telekom Srbija underlined that the decision is unenforceable, and noted that it planned to continue operations while appealing against the decision to the ARBK. The operator also stated that its staff complied with the directive to use locally-issued identification documents.
CommsUpdate reports that MTS is currently under investigation over its failure to inform the relevant authorities that it acquired three companies between 2019 and 2021.
