"Italian interference in the reception of Croatian TV programmes along the Adriatic coast has been removed, ensuring unobstructed reception of Croatian TV programs, further development of terrestrial television services and unobstructed implementation of 5G networks in Croatia," state agency Hina reported on Thursday, carrying a publicly available press release by the state regulator Hakom.

“An ongoing measurement campaign along the Adriatic coast, conducted by the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM), has confirmed that Italy has implemented the measures in accordance with the opinion of the Radio Spectrum Policy Group and stopped using the 470-694 MHz band and the 700MHz band in which Croatia began implementing 5G networks in August 2021,” Hakom explained said on their website.

The Croatian regulator recalled that the interference by internationally uncoordinated Italian TV transmitters began at the time of analogue television and became further complicated when Italy began the transition to digital television in late 2010.

Hakom said they had sent over 8,000 interference complaints to the Italian authorities and the International Telecommunications Union, demanding urgent elimination of the interference.

Since Croatia joined the European Union in mid-2013, Hakom has been actively involved in the work of the European Commission’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group and its subgroup for cross-border coordination, and all this time it has raised the problem of Italian interference in Croatian radio and television programmes, which has been going on for decades.

“The removal of the interference and the shutdown of the remaining Italian TV transmitters that used Croatian frequency resources in the UHF band have ensured conditions for the unobstructed reception of the existing Croatian TV programs along the Adriatic coast, further development of terrestrial television services and the unobstructed implementation of public fifth-generation (5G) mobile communications networks in Croatia,” Hakom said.