A1 Telekom Austria Group is not going to leave the Belarusian market due to the arrest of Nikolai Bredelev, the press secretary of the Belarusian subsidiary. This was stated by Thomas Arnoldner, the CEO of the A1 Telekom Austria Group, in an interview with the APA agency, finanzen.at reports.
The article says that Telekom Austria made a huge leap in profits in 2021.
«With this growth rate, we have once again proved that we are one of the fastest growing companies in the European telecommunications sector,» Thomas Arnoldner said.
According to Arnoldner, business in Belarus brings about a tenth of the income.
«Belarus is an important market for us, we have been working there very successfully for many years,» he stressed, noting that the company’s departure from Belarus is not discussed.
«We support our staff and our local operations on the ground,» he said.
He noted that there is no news regarding the arrest of Bredelev.
«There is no news on this situation that I can share with you. Recently there was a strong aggravation, I think we said everything that needs to be said on this issue. We are really most concerned about the situation and the safety of our employees, but of course we also want to provide the best possible service to our customers,» he stressed.
Let us recall, the Belarusian authorities accused the press secretary of A1 Nikolai Bredelev of leaking the data of A1 customers. The operator launched an internal investigation, while the company reported that Bredelev did not have access to personal data of customers. Despite this, Lukashenka himself voiced similar accusations against Bredelev, he instructed to «take the toughest measures» against the company. The OAC inspection in A1 is set for April.
The Austrian Embassy in Belarus protested against such a violation of personal human rights. The Austrian Foreign Ministry also criticized the actions of the Belarusian authorities. A1 Telekom Austria Group condemned the interference in the personal life of the employee and promised to use all possible legal and diplomatic means to protect the employee. Later, this statement disappeared from the website .
In December last year, according to Reform.by, several more employees of the company, including a leading customer service specialist, were detained for political reasons.
Source: Reform.by
