The president of the Council of the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM), Tonko Obuljen, on Tuesday said that telecom industry had fared well during the Covid-19 pandemic and when Croatia was hit by a few strong earthquakes in 2020.

Networks continued to operate and were not affected by the sudden increase in traffic nor by the earthquakes, said Obuljen at a conference held in Zagreb on the day of HAKOM marketing day.

Due to the pandemic, the auction for the 5G frequency was deferred to this year and from HAKOM’s perspective that auction passed well this summer and we are glad that the auction resulted in the the arrival of new regional operators and that others who will come in the future will contribute to better market development, said Obuljen.

He announced that the law on electronic communications should be adopted in the coming period as will the full implementation of European legislation law in cooperation with the relevant ministry and he hopes the relevant bill will be put for public consultation very soon.

“There will also be a new auction for ‘old’ frequencies because licences for operators expire in 2024, however, we don’t have to wait until then and the last moment but will launch a project in that regard in HAKOM over the next few days and then release a roadmap,” he said.

He added that Croatia will build its network with the help of EU funds which has to be accessible to everyone under the equal conditions and HAKOM will make sure of that. The regulator has also issued the first licences for digital radio broadcasting, which has not existed in Croatia until now.

Obuljen commented on the introduction of the euro currency with regard to the price of services, saying that the agency will certainly be asked about recalculating prices, adding that all this needs to be done in advance to be prepared on time.

On the occasion of HAKOM marketing day, there was talk of strengthening consumer protection and a package of measures to motivate connectivity – Connectivity Toolbox – plans to strengthen connectivity that the European Commission set before the EU for this decade. This served as the basis for Croatia to prepare its action plan to implement examples of good practice.