An important General Assembly took place in Vienna, Austria for the telecommunications group A1 Telekom Austria GROUP (A1 GROUP), the 100% owner of A1 SLOVENIA. The joint-stock company A1 GROUP is a leading provider of digital services and telecommunications in Central and Eastern Europe, with over 24 million users across 7 countries and approximately €4.4 billion in revenues. Its majority shareholder is América Móvil (59.8%), the third-largest wireless services provider in the world with 300 million users and approximately €45 billion in revenues, publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), alongside numerous minority shareholders.
At the General Assembly, they were represented by Florian Beckermann, President of the Austrian Shareholders' Association (IVA). VZMD and IVA have been excellently cooperating for many years (VIDEO: https://youtu.be/RyyZho0QVlM), and both Presidents are elected members of the Executive Board of the European Federation of Investors (BETTER FINANCE). After the management of A1 GROUP presented excellent results - record-breaking in several categories - and efforts for customer/consumer and employee satisfaction, IVA President Florian Beckermann (in the photo) raised a question regarding the status, estimates, and/or potential consequences of the Class Action Lawsuit initiated by VZMD against the Slovenian subsidiary (A1 SLOVENIJA), due to damages affecting approximately 447,000 subscribers amounting to an estimated €52,334,248.18 (VIDEO: https://youtu.be/gAhydt96hQI).
At the General Assembly, the management of A1 GROUP explained that they are taking VZMD’s lawsuit very seriously and are monitoring the process, although they cannot comment on it (at this time) - however, the €52 million claim is reflected in the company's Annual Report...
To recall, VZMD had, at the beginning of October 2022, addressed out-of-court demands to the four largest operators in Slovenia – including A1 SLOVENIJA – to cease the use of unfair practices and attempted to resolve the situation amicably (VIDEO: https://youtu.be/itxmtIdHpK8). However, due to relatively lukewarm official responses, the Association was compelled to file the announced Class Action Lawsuits. According to the conservative estimates of VZMD's professional collaborators, over the past five years, approximately 1.5 million subscribers of operators TELEKOM SLOVENIJE, A1 Slovenija, TELEMACH, and T-2 have been collectively damaged by more than €250 million due to unilateral price increases of subscription packages without prior stipulated reasons and methods for the price increase.
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