Lucic for Newsmax Balkans: Telekom Srbija Investing €50 Million in North Macedonia

"In North Macedonia, the market is highly competitive and developed. Fiber optics and mobile telephony are well-established, and we are newcomers. We will strive in the near future to contribute to improving competition. Overall, the Western Balkans has a high level of development in optical and mobile infrastructure. According to some past United Nations studies, the region shows a high level of telecommunication development," Lucic told Newsmax Balkans in Skopje.

Speaking about current investments in North Macedonia, Lucic said he is proud of the initial investment of €18 million, which is foreign direct investment. The plan, he said, is for Telekom to stay in North Macedonia with long-term plans, hence the large investments.

“Our company in North Macedonia has 100,000 users and 90 employees. We took over part of the United Group in Serbia and now also in Macedonia. The segment formerly known as Total TV is now under our network,” Lucic stated.

He explained that the reason for his visit to North Macedonia was to continue investment.

"After four years, we are entering a new phase of investment, and in North Macedonia, we plan to invest €50 million. We’ll be more active in fixed telephony by building a fiber optic network, and we’ll also explore the possibility of acquiring smaller cable operators to continue growth," the Telekom Srbija CEO said.

Newsmax Expansion

According to Lucic, all competition is welcome, and Telekom already has recognizable sports, cultural, entertainment, and especially news programming.

"I’m pleased to be a guest on Newsmax Balkans, which will soon evolve into something greater, as we plan to expand Newsmax throughout Eastern Europe. We’re bringing new quality content and users will have access to a rich media offering," he said.

He also announced that starting in October, three localized Arena Sport channels in the Macedonian language will be available in North Macedonia, with the goal of increasing that number to five.

Call for Startups

Lucic invited local IT companies and startups with ideas related to artificial intelligence to visit Telekom Srbija’s website and apply for funding, noting that Telekom has already supported 22 companies.

"We are very interested in helping all startups in the region, especially those working with artificial intelligence," he said.

According to him, the goal is for Telekom to be number one in regional countries, just as it became the top operator in Montenegro, even though things didn’t seem promising at first — but after ten years, Telekom became number one in that country.

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