According to the proposal from the biggest shareholders, published on Tuesday, the payout of EUR 10 gross per share or a total of over EUR 65m would in no way undermine the company's operations or growth prospects.

The management and supervisors+y boards are proposing a dividend payout of EUR 3.33 gross per share (EUR 21.66m in total), but it is unlikely that their proposal will be confirmed at the annual general meeting on 30 May.

The move by the state does not come as a surprise as the majority shareholder of the telco wants a high dividend payout in order to secure funds to close the budget gap.

Last year, the shareholders secured a EUR 78m payout in interim dividends and dividends out of a total of EUR 100.8m in distributable profit from 2012, while the management had proposed that only EUR 33.6m.

The move comes just as the state is selling its entire stake in Telekom. The deadline for expressions of interests in acquiring the stake expired on 23 April, but the sellers only said that the response of "first-rate strategic and financial investors" was "very good".

Unofficially, interested buyers include Deutsche Telekom through its Croatian subsidiary T-Hrvatski Telekom, and Magyar Telekom, which is also in majority ownership of Deutsche Telekom.