Telekom Romania, in which the Romanian state owns 45.99%, did not participate in the capital hike.
Even though OTE, which owns 70% of Telekom Romania Mobile Communications, injected EUR800 million and Telekom Romania, which owns 30%, did not participate and did not buy any new shares, the shareholding structure remains unchanged.
OTE is thus covering the loses generated by its mobile telephony operations in Romania, resolving the issue of the Romanian mobile division’s debts to the group (estimated at around EUR600 million three years ago) and opening the way for a potential sale of local operations.
Market sources show Deutsche Telekom is looking to sell Romanian operations this year, preferably before this fall’s 5G license tender.
Telekom Romania had the biggest net losses and largest debts in 2018 among companies on the local market. Telekom reported a turnover of RON4.7 billion (EUR1 billion), a net loss of RON784.5 million and total debts of RON6.2 billion. Even though its loss narrowed by 40% on the year, it was still the biggest in the industry.