(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a letter by IPI affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO): Ms. Natasa Micic Acting President of Serbia and President of the Serbian Parliament Republic of Serbia Fax: +381 11 682 850 Mr. Zoran Djindjic Prime Minister of Serbia Republic of Serbia Fax: +381 11 361 76 09 Mr. […]
(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a letter by IPI affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO):
Ms. Natasa Micic
Acting President of Serbia and
President of the Serbian Parliament
Republic of Serbia
Fax: +381 11 682 850
Mr. Zoran Djindjic
Prime Minister of Serbia
Republic of Serbia
Fax: +381 11 361 76 09
Mr. Drasko Petrovic
General Director
Telekom Serbia
Fax: +381 11 334 16 35
Vienna, 7 March 2003
Your Excellency,
The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is deeply concerned about the position of private Internet service providers in Serbia, which has been jeopardized by the state-owned Telekom Serbia.
According to information before SEEMO, Telekom Serbia has been applying so-called “limitations” on leased lines for months, thereby reducing their speed to 9600 bps and limiting communication. On 11 February, at 10 a.m., Vecernje novosti, one of the country’s largest newspapers, lost its 1 Mbps Internet connection with its Internet provider Memodata. After checking with the Telekom Serbia support service, Memodata found out that the line itself was not cut, although the high-speed modems were not functioning. Further investigation revealed that disabled coils had caused the interruption of the high-speed Internet connections. High-speed Internet connections are important for Vecernje novosti, not only for e-mail correspondence and
Internet research, but because the newspaper has a European edition printed in Frankfurt.
After Vecernje novosti protested on 15 February, Telekom Serbia technical support teams solved the problem by connecting Vecernje novosti to Telekom Serbia’s Internet service provider. Consequently, Memodata lost its client to Telekom Serbia. In the following days other leased lines of the provider Memodata were disrupted in the same manner, and on 25 February Memodata lost
all of its leased lines. Also affected were private Internet providers in Nis and Novi Pazar, which were using Memodata Internet services. Memodata is the first privately owned Internet provider to be completely disconnected. Its business has now come to a standstill, affecting thousands of
residential and business Internet users.
In SEEMO’s opinion, the behaviour of Telekom Serbia towards its customers and competitors is irresponsible and unfair. Inevitably, SEEMO is led to the conclusion that state-owned Telekom Serbia is preparing itself for deregulation by eliminating any and all competition in the field of Internet services. Indeed, Telekom Serbia is taking over the more lucrative accounts from the private Internet providers, starving them financially and using financial strengths derived from its present monopoly to the disadvantage of its competitors. It is in the interests of the Republic of Serbia to have a full liberalization of the market according to democratic standards, and also in the interest of the Serbian public to be able to freely choose their Internet service provider.
Therefore, SEEMO urges the discontinuation of Telekom Serbia’s “limitation” policy toward its competitors, which clearly hinders the further development of Internet communications and freedom of speech in Serbia.
Yours sincerely,
Oliver Vujovic,
SEEMO Secretary General
Recommended Action
Similar appeals can be sent to:
Natasa Micic
Acting President of Serbia and
President of the Serbian Parliament
Republic of Serbia
Fax: +381 11 682 850
Zoran Djindjic
Prime Minister of Serbia
Republic of Serbia
Fax: +381 11 361 76 09
Drasko Petrovic
General Director
Telekom Serbia
Fax: +381 11 334 16 35
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
