The investment team of eKapija has analyzed and formed a ranking list of the investments and investment ideas that our users found the most interesting in 2018. The results are very interesting. Some are expected, although there are plenty of surprises too, which is why we’ve decided to share this information with you.
We present the most interesting projects in the
TELECOMMUNICATIONS & IT category.
The past year was definitely marked by acquisitions of telecom companies. Telenor Serbia was sold, whereas Telekom Srbija continued expanding its network by purchasing new cable operators, announcing new investments as well. TV Prva and O2 TV got a new owner, Kopernikus, and United Group also continued investing.
The good reputation of Serbia in the IT world was also confirmed by announcement and/or openings of development centers of renowned world companies – Continental opened a center in Novi Sad, Draxlmaier opened one in Belgrade, and SAP is considering the opening of its own center too. An information incubator is being planned in Sabac, and a state data center will be built in Kragujevac.
Several other high-tech companies also decided to come to Serbia. Yandex Taxi started operating in the country, NCR announced new investments, and there were also speculations about the arrival of Alibaba, which has been postponed, as the Chinese e-commerce company decided to build its logistics center in Belgium.
Last year, the AgriSense platform took the first spot, and the digital farm in Backa Topola placed high on this year`s list as well, proving that IT solutions and modern technologies are getting increasingly applicable in farming.
Let`s see what the most read articles in 2018 were.
The
first spot belongs to the sale of Telenor Serbia, which has operated in Serbia since 2006 and has over three million users. In
late January and
early February 2018, Telenor confirmed that there was an interest in the acquisition of its operations in the mobile sector in Serbia, Hungary, Montenegro and Bulgaria. The announcements proved to be true, and
PPF Group signed an agreement worth EUR 2.8 billion on the purchase of Telenor`s operations in mid-March, and the transaction included mobile operations in four countries and provider of technical services Telenor Common Operation (TnCo).
In August, PPF Group obtained consent from the Commission for Protection of Competition of Serbia for the
takeover of Telenor Bank, a member of Telenor Group.
The
second spot belongs to Telekom Srbija, which
revealed its plans for the purchase of cable operators in July. This was realized in November, when
the company became the owner of Kopernikus Technology and another two smaller operators in December, Radijus Vektor and AVcom.