DARS, the motorway company, has not officially confirmed the selection of the bidder beyond saying in a press release late on Monday that the supervisory board had preliminarily endorsed the contract.

The choice will be revealed once the selected bidder has been informed about the outcome of the tender, DARS told the STA.

Telekom and Q-Free had submitted the lowest bid in the October 2015 open call, just shy of EUR 100m. It was ten million or more lower than three rival bids.

Q-Free is a company specialising in tolling, paring and traffic management systems. In 2014 it acquired Traffic Design, a Slovenian firm that set up and still maintains the existing ABC e-tolling system.

The selected bidder will have one year from the signing of the contract to set up the new system. DARS expects it will be up and running in the second half of 2017.

The existing ABC system is voluntary and is a vestige of the e-tolling for cars in place before toll stickers were introduced in 2008.

The new system will be mandatory for all vehicles heavier than 3.5 tonnes. The existing toll sticker system will remain in place for cars.

The open call did not specify the type of technology to be used. Media reports suggest Telekom and Q-Free offered a close-range microwave system.