Telekom Austria is looking forward to takeovers in Croatia and Serbia. These takeovers could make the Telekom Austria the leading player in Balkans. Telekom Austria's chief executive told to a newspaper that they have the chance to become one of the biggest player in Southeast Europe, declining to rule out a capital increase.

Hannes Ametsreiter had an interview with WirtschaftsBlatt. The interview was published on Friday.

He said that buying cable operators and satellite companies has allowed them to offer bundled packages of services. These services are highly effective to lock in customers. This is a growth opportunity that others are not able to avail.

He added that Croatia's H1 Telekom and Serbia's SBB cable outfit were among alluring assets. Finance through cash is sufficient for smaller deals, however, bigger deals require a capital increase, he said.

He refused to discuss the financial impact of Austria's auction of mobile frequencies later this year. He, however, said that the group was very well financed. He said this after two bond issues this year worth 900 million Euros.

Ametsreiter said that competition in the Austrian mobile market is tough. Telekom Austria competes with big players like Hutchison Whampoa and Deutsche Telekom.

"If the fixed-line segment in Europe were less strongly regulated it would trigger up to 100 billion Euros in investment. It would cost governments nothing but bring a lot. Why they don't do that is a mystery to me", he said.