The Hrvatski Telekom (HT) telecommunications company has won 13 contracts in ten counties valued at 820.5 million kuna for the construction of a new NGA generation broadband network which should be completed by the end of 2023, the Ministry for Regional Development and EU Funds sad on Thursday.

The 13 contracts, presented to HT Board members Natasa Rapaic and Boris Drilo by Regional Development Minister Natasa Tramisak, pertain to the allocation of funds following a tender for the construction of next generation networks (NGN) / next generation access networks (NGA) in NGA white areas, with a total value of 820.5 million kuna, of which 323.2 million kuna is in the form of grants.

The ministry said that eight projects have been signed to date as part of the tender with a total value of 578 million kuna and 263.9 million kuna of that being grants.

“With today’s contracts with HT, we have absorbed the entire allocation in that tender. A total of 21 contracts have been signed with investments valued at almost 1.4 billion kuna of which 687 million kuna is in grants,” Minister Tramisak said.

The implementation of these latest 13 projects that are being financed from the European Structural and Investment Fund will enable the construction of an NGA network and provide faster broadband access to network infrastructure for an additional 150,000 households, businesses and public users in less populated and less developed areas of Croatia.