Serbian Minister of Economy and Regional Development Nebojsa Ciric said on Sunday that he expects that the distribution of Telekom Srbija's free shares for around 4.8 million of citizens will start on April 15-20.

The Serbian government stopped distributing the shares while negotiating with one of the shareholders, the Hellenic Organization of Telecommunications (OTE). This transaction is now completed, and the Republic of Serbia is again the holder of 20 percent of the shares owned by the Greek company, Ciric told Tanjug.

The shares will be granted to approximately 4.8 million citizens, who will then decide whether to sell them or keep them and wait for their value to increase on the stock market, he said.