Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz hailed the decision of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to grant Kosovo a dialing prefix as historic, the Austrian news agency APA reported. Kurz recalled that Austria applied on behalf of Kosovo on 1 January 2016 and that the ITU decision will enable cheaper and simpler telephone calls. Furthermore, he said the agreement reached between Kosovo and Serbia under the EU facilitation stipulates the establishment of a new telephone operator, part of the Serbian Telecom, which will be licensed by the Kosovo Regulatory Authority.