March 12 (SeeNews) - Serbia's telecommunications agency, RATEL, is expected to launch an auction for allocating 5G spectrum licences for the provisioning of public telecommunications services to end users by the end of 2024, once the government adopts regulations on the segment, telecommunications minister Mihailo Jovanovic said.
"We drafted the regulations for the 5G network auction and I expect that one of the first things the new government will do will be to adopt these new regulations in its first 100 days in office," Jovanovic said in a video podcast of local broadcaster Novosti last week.
"I believe this could be organised by the end of the year and it will really be a very serious competition among the existing mobile operators. But I also expect many others who are not present on the Serbian market will also participate and as of next year we will launch the introduction of a 5G network," Jovanovic noted.
Serbia, with a population of around 7 million, has three mobile operators - state-owned Telekom Srbija; the local arm of Czech investment group PPF - Yettel (formerly known as Telenor); and the local unit of A1 Telekom Austria Group - A1 Srbija (known previously as Vip Mobile). In the fourth quarter of 2023, Telekom Srbija completed the acquisition of local virtual mobile operator Globaltel, which had been providing independent telecommunications services in the country since late 2016.
At the end of 2023, Telekom Srbija held a 44.15% share of the overall number of mobile subscribers, followed by Yettel with 31.87% and A1 Srbija with 23.98%.
On Sunday, Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic said he expects the country's new government will be formed by April 1. Vucic is the leader of populist conservative Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, which won the general election in December and will form the new government in coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS).