Bosnia-Herzegovina

[BA] GSM Licences Issued to Mobile Operators

IRIS 2005-1:1/12

Dusan Babic

Media Analyst, Sarajevo

In October 2004, the Communications Regulatory Agency (RAK) issued new licenses for the provision of GSM services for the country to Telekom Srpske (Banjaluka), BH Telecom (Sarajevo), and Hrvatski Telecom (HT) (Western Mostar). This was done in accordance with RAK's mandate and Articles 7, 10 and 37 of the Communications Law, and with respect to point 5, paragraph 4 of the BiH Telecommunications Sector Policy, as well as with respect to the "Decision on Value of GSM Licenses in BiH" and the "Deadline for Awarding of the 3rd GSM license in BiH" (Official Gazette of BiH, No. 44/03). The GSM telecommunications. New services may be offered over GSM such as internet access for handheld devices or the reception of television programmes. The existance of three mobile operators is not the result of free competition, but the outcome of the division of the country into three ethnic groups. The license clearly states that all mobile operators are obliged to provide 80 percent coverage of the total population in the country, and also 80 percent of the length of individual roads. These conditions should be met in two years from the day of the awarding of the licenses. The licenses apply for a period of 15 years.