Commission on monopoly of the IT company Prointer: Solution to be found soon
The IT company Prointer, which is engaged in the development and sale of computers and software, is rapidly succeeding in the Serbian ICT market, primarily due to doing business with the state administration and public companies.
According to Insajder’s investigation, only in the first five months in 2017, Prointer won 40 state tenders and made deals worth over three million euros. The Commission for Protection of Competition, which is investigating the claims that Prointer has monopoly in Serbian market, said to Insajder.net that the procedure is still ongoing.
Insajder journalists asked the Commission when it will end the investigation and determine whether Prointer has the monopoly or not. However, the Commission stated that “according to the planned activities, the solution should be made soon.”
The Commission started the investigation after a series of articles by Insajder journalists who discovered that Prointer bought the competitor company Alti in 2016.
The Commission also stated that both companies had to report the takeover. As this was not done, an official investigation had to be opened. Prointer had to pay fines of up to 10 percent of annual revenue over concentration at the market.
Asked by Insajder journalists whether Prointer paid the fee for failing to report the concentration, the Commission stated only that "in this as in all other cases the law is fully implemented."
According to the financial report in 2015, Prointer had an income of 2.5 billion dinars (over 20 million euros), which means that by the Commission’s decision, the company needed to pay 250 million dinars.
Only this year, Prointer earned over three million euros through business with the state administration and public companies, and since 2012 until today, the company increased its revenue more than 30 times.
In 2012, Prointer won one public tender, but in 2016, they won 150 public competitions - from installing information systems to the procurement of computers and toners.
According to Prointer’s data, the most important clients of this company are the state-owned companies and the public administration including Telekom (the state telecommunications company), Serbian Electro-distribution, Jugoimport, and Customs Administration, while their only client from the private sector is the company Dheleze.