The decision was taken as the voting rights of the state as the majority stakeholder had been suspended by the Securities Market Agency because it had failed to publish a takeover bid in line with the country's takeover legislation.

The distributable profit of the company, which is on the list of state-owned firms slated for sale, stood at EUR 100.8m in 2012, of which EUR 24.1m or EUR 3.70 gross per share will be used for interim dividends and EUR 54m or EUR 8.30 per share for dividends. EUR 22.8m will get transferred to next year.

The management had proposed using EUR 24.1m for interim dividends and EUR 9.5m for dividends. EUR 35m were to be transferred into profit reserves and EUR 32.2m to next year.

Thus, a proposal was adopted that had been put forward by shareholders holding only 5.89% of the stock, while less than 40% of capital was present at the assembly.

Although the management had warned that this would definitely affect the implementation of the company's future strategy, the shareholders argued that the higher dividends would not undermine normal investment and development activities at Telekom.

Chairman Rudolf Skobe confirmed after the vote that the company's strategy would need to be adjusted because of the higher dividends, including with cuts to investments in some areas.

Speaking of future plans, Skobe told shareholders today that due diligence and talks on the potential acquisition of other operator's networks were continuing in Bosnia-Herzegovina, as was the process of Telekom selling its investment in Albania.

Meanwhile, the shareholders also decided to grant to management the right to purchase own shares, with Skobe saying that whether this would happen remained open.

"This increases the responsibility of the management and gives it the chance to also act in the benefit of the company by purchasing own shares," he said.