International Telecommunication Union (ITU) warned in its latest bulletin from June 1, that radio-amateurs from Kosovo illegally and unlawfully use a code dedicated to states, Serbian media reported.

According to ITU such unlawful use of Z6 prefix represents breaching of radio regulations, Tanjug news agency has learned.

ITU called upon International Radio-Amateurs Union to instruct Kosovo to stop using the code as a state code, since Kosovo is not an ITU member state.

Vetevendosje MP, Aida Derguti, has denied she asked the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) not to issue Kosovo a dialing prefix. She said that in a letter to ITU which is in the public domain, she spoke about the need to avoid getting the code through Serbia.
Derguti was responding to allegations from the Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, that an MP from Vetevendosje wrote to the ITU asking it not to allocate a prefix code for Kosovo.

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.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has assigned the "geographic area" of Kosovo the +383 dialling code pursuant to the Brussels agreement on telecommunications and a formal letter from Serbia.

"This is a historic achievement in the field of telecommunications that strengthens the international entity of Kosovo," the website of the Kosovo government quoted Minister for Dialogue Edita Tahiri as saying.

Most news websites quote Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue, Edita Tahiri, as saying today that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has officially allocated the 383 international telephone code to Kosovo. “We want to inform the public that in line with the telecom agreement, the ITU has published the telephone code for Kosovo. This news is a historic achievement in the area of telecom and it strengthens the international subjectivity of the state of Kosovo.

Kosovo’s Minister for Dialogue and chief negotiator, Edita Tahiri, said at the government’s meeting today that the recent telecommunication agreement reached in Brussels with Serbia ends the activity of illegal telephony operators in Kosovo. Tahiri said Austria has already applied on Kosovo’s behalf to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and that the dialing prefix of +383 will be granted to Kosovo on 15 December.

BELGRADE – As Belgrade and Pristina resume talks to normalize their relations, the latter’s request for its own telephone code present a problematic precedent for China and other countries across the world, Dusan Prorokovic, former state secretary in Serbia’s Ministry for Kosovo and Metohija, told Sputnik Serbia on Tuesday.

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Isa Mustafa told members of the Assembly in Pristina today that Kosovo will be the sole owner of its telephone code. “We will administer this code, the server will be in Kosovo and the Kosovo Telecom will connect to the world using this server,” Mustafa said. He added that the International Telecommunications Union, and not Serbia, will give Kosovo its telephone code. “The ITU does not recognize Kosovo, but we have found the solution whereby Austria has applied on our behalf. There was no other solution,” he said.

Serbian mobile operator in October will be licensed in Kosovo, but only with limited operations, said on Saturday President of the Board of Directors of the Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal communications, Kreshnik Gashi.

According to the announcement of Gashi, Kosovo will get, in early October, dialling code +383 while at the same time Serbian mobile operator will obtain permission to operate in Kosovo, but only with limited operations.

The Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK) called a press conference today to speak about the Kosovo government’s intention to allow a GSM operator from Serbia to operate in Kosovo once the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) grants it a dialling prefix. AAK said the move is “unacceptable” and unknown to international practices. “The government has instructed the Serb authority to operate in Kosovo through an opportunity the operators don’t enjoy even in Serbia,” said AAK’s Anton Berisha.