The fact that Serbia’s state telecom operator has through the Mtel telecom company gained nearly complete control in most cities of Bosnia’s Serb-majority part, Republika Srpska (RS), has not prompted any political reactions.

Telekom Srbija is a state-owned company, which gives the takeover a political dimension that does not seem important enough for local politicians.

The leader of the main Bosniak party in the country, Bakir Izetbegovic, briefly commented on the development for N1.

“It would be better if this would not be happening but we can’t prevent it,” he said.

How the “conditionally allowed concentration” was approved without a proper procedure remains a question the Competition Council is not answering.

The decision has not been published on its website and neither has anyone explained what this conditional concentration means although all competition was eliminated from Republika Srpska, which is a violation of the law on competition.

How it is possible that the Council member who led of this process was Arijana Regoda, who was appointed by the ruling party in the RS which represents a conflict of interest, also remains unanswered.

This is not only a concentration of ownership but of power as well, which is obvious from previous acquisitions, like the purchase of Elta Kabel, Blicnet, as well as Telrad Net.

This gave Mtel absolute domination over television, internet and telephone serviced in all major cities of the RS.

Although there was no local reaction, the EU commented that the absence of transparency over media ownership and the influence of politics and businesses over editorial policy is “concerning.”