Telekom Austria is reportedly interested in acquiring the 58 per cent stake in Telekom Srbija put up for sale by the Serbian government earlier this month.

Serbia’s privatisation agency issued a public invitation for bidders to make non-binding offers to acquire a controlling stake in the company at the start of July, and the Austrian operator is now in the process of obtaining the sales documents, according to Reuters.

In its statement, the agency said only companies with assets of at least €2 billion, or reported revenues of over €500 million, will be able to participate in the process.

Local news agency WirtschaftsBlatt also reported earlier that Telekom Austria, owned by Carlos Slim’s America Movil, sent a letter of intent to acquire the stake.

Telekom Austria first attempted to acquire a 51 per cent stake in the Serbian player in 2011, but had its €1.1 billion offer rejected by the state for being too low.

The government, which is Telekom Srbija’s largest single shareholder, is seeking to offload the fixed and mobile player to stabilise its finances and reach targets on a three year loan deal with the International Monetary Fund. In the 1990s it sold stakes in Telecom Srbija to both Telecom Italia and Greece’s OTE, but bought them back in 2002 and 2012 respectively.

According to GSMA intelligence, Telekom Srbija is the country’s market leader with more than 4.7 million mobile connections, which is forecast to reach over 5 million by mid-2018.

Prospective bidders have until 2 August to make their bids.