Makedonski Telekom

The alleged wrongdoing went back even further than 2011.

MakTel once dominated the mobile market in North Macedonia, operating since 2001 as a joint venture between the state and Magyar Telekom, the Hungarian subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Its only competitor was the far smaller Cosmote network.

As Macedonia's Special Prosecution, SJO, struggles to trawl the servers of Macedonian Telecom/Makedonski Telekom in search of evidence of unlawful wiretapping, Deutsche Telecom - its parent company - told Deutsche Welle in Bonn that allegations of non-cooperation with the search are untrue.

The Serbian government on Thursday adopted a decision on launching the initiative for privatization of the telecommunications company Telekom Srbija.

The government website said that the Ministry of Economy and the Privatization Agency have been tasked with implementing this decision.

Deutsche Telekom's spokesperson, Elpida Trizi, has told Deutsche Welle that the company's subsidiary, the majority owner of Makedonski Telekom AD, is planning to investigate Macedonian opposition claims of mass surveillance in which mobile operators were presumably involved.