Serbian President Boris Tadic is confident that the government will not depart from its earlier decision not to sell a majority stake in Telekom Srbija below the price of EUR 1.4 billion.

“The price for Telekom is dependent on the market situation as well, and since the situation is such that it does not provide the necessary offer and means for Serbia's economic progress, the government decided not to sell Telekom,” Tadic told reporters during a visit to a farm household in Kragujevac.

Tadic reiterated that the original decision to sell the company had been made to have the funds invested in other areas of the economy in which the state could not find a strategic partner, such as road construction and new energy systems.

He stressed that various media published false information recently to the effect that an agreement on the sale of Telekom had been reached.

The tender to sell a 51 percent stake in Telekom Srbija was announced on October 20 last year, and the Serbian government set the minimum price for the sale of a majority stake in the company at EUR 1.4 billion.

On Wednesday, Telekom Austria submitted a new, improved bid of EUR 1.1 billion, instead of the original 950 million.

The working group in charge of the sale of a 51 percent stake in Telekom Srbija said it would recommend to the government to reject the Austrian company's offer.