Boston, MA -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/25/2013 -- Serbia's telecommunications market lags behind the most developed in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of investment in next-generation networks and value-added services. The mobile market is one of the most penetrated in the region and experienced an overall decline in the number of subscribers in 2012, as a result of subscriber deactivations and slowing growth. Operators have identified this saturation and have made moves to migrate users from prepaid to postpaid contracts, as well as to 3G mobile broadband services. Telekom Srbija continues to have a strong presence in the telecommunications market, limiting growth opportunities in telephony and ADSL due to its dominance over the sectors. Pay-TV is on the rise, however, with a more liberalised market pushing up subscriptions, ARPU and overall revenues. The rapid sale of Serbia Broadband, in comparison to the protracted saga of Telekom Srbija's privatisation process, highlights the former's strong presence in the pay-TV sector and the need for the latter to lower its valuation.

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Key Data:

- The mobile market recorded its first year of decline, as the regulator changed its reporting practises, Telekom Srbija discounted inactive prepaid accounts and other operators saw slower growth.
- The mobile broadband market, however, grew rapidly in 2012, up by 43.6% y-o-y to reach 3.663mn 3G subscriptions.
- Vip Mobile continued to make the most gains in terms of market share by subscriptions, adding 217,000 net users in 2012.
- Pay-TV users grew by 8.3% to reach 1.44mn at end-2012, while monthly ARPU for IPTV also rose from RSD700 to RSD858.

Key Trends And Developments

In September 2013, it was reported Serbia will introduce a fourth mobile telephony provider that will be operated by cable company SBB. A source from the Agency for Electronic Communications (Ratel) said SBB received approval to launch an MVNO, making it the first such operator in Serbia. It will compete with Telekom Srbija's mt:s, Telenor and Vip Mobile. SBB confirmed it is completing the technical preparations to start the mobile telephony service. According to a company source, SBB has approval from Ratel, it has its numbering, as well as contracts with other operators. The source also indicated SBB is in the final phase of testing the system and expects to launch the service by end-2013.

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