ZAGREB, 14 June 2022 - Telemach Croatia has covered almost all of Croatia with a 5G network and 100,000 households with a fast fixed fiber-optic network, approaching national coverage, to be completed by the end of 2022 or in early 2023 with the integration of Optima Telekom, Management Board President Adrian Ježina said on Tuesday.

Telemach has replaced and/or upgraded close to all of 1,200 base stations for the mobile network, and has so far covered Zagreb, Zadar, and Split with a 10-gigabit fiber-optic network, with Osijek to be covered soon as well, he said.

"We have achieved everything we planned in less than a year," he said, noting that this was possible owing to the support of the parent company United Group.

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ZAGREB, 21 Oct 2021 - The Hrvatski Telekom (HT), a leading telecom in Croatia, on Thursday presented capabilities of the 5G+ network, which provides a speed of 4 Gbit/s and network response times of only ten milliseconds.

However, its commercial use in Croatia is not going to be possible for yet another year or two due to the lack of adequate devices and telephones.

"5G+ network is based on 26 GHz frequencies and will cover areas that require the best network performance, and will provide 4 to 8 times higher capacity in areas with the highest requirements for the use of data services," the company says on its website.

HT noted that 5G+ was only just emerging in Europe and that Croatia was among the first countries where it is being developed while a member of the Management Board of Hrvatski Telekom and CTIO, Boris Drilo, underscored that that technology already has been existing in America for several years now, adding that smart telephones for that technology exist only in Korea.

Recalling that HT had purchased a frequency spectrum for 5G, Drilo explained that currently, 5G operates on the spectra of 700 Mhz and 3.6 GHz, whereas 5G+ is implemented on a spectrum of 26 GHz.

"With 5G+ network performances we have shown today, we have demonstrated the exciting future we have with 5G technology. The e-mobility and EV segment is just one of the branches that will experience a full boom thanks to 5G. Due to the large spectrum width, the 26 GHz frequency band will be crucial in the future for achieving high capacities as well as high peak transmission speeds. This will enable the development of new customer services that will be able to use high capacity and ultra-low latency, such as, for example, campus networks for Industry 4.0," Drilo was quoted as saying. 

He underscored that the current technology will be faster and more reliable which is important for many segments in transport, electric vehicles, and filling stations.

That means faster and better connections for electric vehicles, smart traffic lights, parking, and e-filling stations of which there are currently 600 in Croatia, the head of HT's e-mobility project Dina Novosel said. Half of those stations are managed by HT, and with regard to the current amount of 2,000 electric vehicles, that is sufficient for the time being but it will have to be increased given the trends in the automobile industry.

5G however will not immediately accelerate and resolve everything and that will take some time.

According to HT, currently, there are about 100,000 5G phones in use in its network in Croatia.

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ZAGREB, October 29, 2020 - Hrvatski Telekom (HT) on Thursday rolled out a 5G network in Croatia, the first company to do so, initially covering Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, Osijek, Samobor and Sveta Nedelja.

With 5G, HT is building a network of the future that will enable the connectivity and automation of a large number of sensors, industrial devices, autonomous vehicles, drones, as well as further advances in telemedicine, the company said in a press release.

CEO Kostas Nebis said that the commercial start of the 5G network was a milestone for the company and for the entire telecommunications industry in the country, because the 5G network would open up opportunities for innovations that would boost economic and social development.

The rollout of the 5G network is a continuation of activities on the construction of the network of the future which HT began to implement and test in March 2019.

ZAGREB, Oct 1, 2020 - The U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will stop in Dubrovnik on Friday as part of his European tour, and he will be received by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlic Radman, and a few more senior officials.

The abolishment of visas for the Croatians traveling to the USA, Croatia's plan to purchase fighter jets, the LNG terminal off Krk, and Croatia's plans to introduce 5G network are likely to be some of the topics between Pompeo, who is the highest U.S. official to visit Croatia since the start of the Donald Trump presidency in 2016, and his hosts in Dubrovnik.

"The leaders will discuss opportunities for closer cooperation between the United States and Croatia in key areas of mutual concern, including defense cooperation, the growing U.S.-Croatia investment relationship, and Croatia’s strong efforts to advance Western Balkan integration," reads the statement on the website of the US State Department.

U.S. Visa Waiver Programme

After three decades of unsuccessful attempts to get the visa requirements for Croatian travelers to the USA abolished, Mike Pompeo is expected to announce in Dubrovnik that Croatia has met the last criterion to be added to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), and that is that refusal rate considering the rejected visa applications has fallen below 3%.

Currently, all but four EU member states are within the VWP. Apart from Croatia, those are Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Romania. 

The VWP is a program of the U.S. federal government that allows citizens of specific countries to travel to the United States for tourism, business, or while in transit for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa.

On Wednesday evening, Foreign Minister Grlic Radman told the HRT broadcaster that he expected a "positive decision" by the USA in the months ahead about waiving visas for Croatian nationals.

"Various bodies in the US decide on that, with support from the American embassy. I think we can expect a positive decision in the months ahead," the minister said.

U.S. Ambassador to Zagreb, Robert Kohorst, has said recently that he is optimistic about the VWP for Croatia, however, he did not want to specify when the visa requirements could be abolished for the Croatians.

Procurement of 12 multipurpose fighter jets

The Croatian Defence Ministry in early September received bids for the procurement of 12 multipurpose fighter jets from Sweden, the USA, France, and Israel. Sweden has offered new Gripen C/D jets, the USA new F-16 block 70 jets, France used Rafale jets, and Israel used F-16 block 30 aircraft.

US Ambassador Robert Kohorst said on Wednesday that the aircraft offered by his country was an excellent plane and that his country hoped the procurement process would go in his country's favor.

When this topic is discussed, it is often mentioned that over recent years, Washington has donated military equipment, estimated at several hundred million dollars, to Croatia.

Croatia's interdepartmental commission will recommend the best bid by December 12.

Mike Pompeo and Defence Minister Mario Banozic are due to consider this topic.

5G network

During his European tour which started on 27 September, Pompeo first visited Greece and then Italy and the Holy See from where he is due to arrive in Dubrovnik.

International media have reported that while in Rome he delivered "warning to Italy over China's economic influence and 5G."

Pompeo "described Chinese mobile telecoms technology as a threat to Italy’s national security and the privacy of its citizens," Reuters reported.

"The United States also urges the Italian government to consider carefully the risks to its national security and the privacy of its citizens presented by technology companies with ties to the Chinese Community Party," he was quoted as saying.

The USA is seen to be mounting pressure on European countries not to use Huawei technology in the 5G networks.

Croatia plans to develop 5G networks and the first stage is to introduce this technology in a few cities: Osijek, Bjelovar, Karlovac, and Rijeka.

Croatia and China have stepped up their bilateral cooperation over the last few years, and the current biggest infrastructure project in Croatia -- the construction of Peljesac Bridge -- is being implemented by Chinese builders.

Croatia is one of the members of the China+16 platform for the cooperation between Beijing and central and east European countries.

 Therefore, it will be no surprise if  Mike Pompeo delivers similar warnings to Croatia as he did to Italy.

The Andrej Plenkovic government on Wednesday launched procedures to conclude the Convention between Croatia and the USA for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

This convention is likely to be one of the topics of the Dubrovnik talks.

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