June the 16th, 2021 - A team of Croatian designers are set to design A1 Croatia's workwear in a brand new tender which works to keep locally made products in mind.

With the coronavirus pandemic having highlighted, among other things, that we can't always rely on imports and that trying to produce as much as we can locally is the best direction to go in, A1 Croatia have their eyes set on talented Croatian designers, of which there are plenty. 

As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, Telekom A1 Hrvatska/Croatia has announced a tender for Croatian designers to apply for. The tender invites them to design new work clothes for their employees, with a prize fund for the best solutions amounting to 30,000 kuna.

As they explained from the aforementioned company, the whole process, from the selection of the design solution to the very execution and application will be carried out in cooperation with Naftalin, a Croatian company which deals the production of workwear. By making this business move, A1 Croatia wants to give an incentive to Croatian designers and companies.

“The choice of such a company was prompted by the desire to show how some support for a creatively strong part of society can easily enable it to become more visible and to improve and develop its business.

We're aware of the exceptional importance of local production for every community, because we can only grow when the community in which we operate is also growing,'' said Iva Ancic, head of brand and marketing communications at A1 Croatia.

The panel for the selection of the design of the new work clothes also provided a place for one of the employees who, with his advice and first-hand knowledge, will help make the new clothes created by Croatian designers as comfortable as possible and according to the wishes of the employees themselves, the company explains.

For more, make sure to follow Made in Croatia.

January 5, 2021 – After a donation of 2 million kuna, A1 Croatia gives its customers 120 GB of additional free internet traffic to make communication easier for earthquake-affected area residents.

A1 Croatia provides 120 GB of additional free internet traffic on their A1 mobile lines for users whose homes have been damaged. Also, on Tomato lines, A1 gives a free option of 500 min/SMS. All business users from the affected area will receive 150 GB of free data traffic in January, A1 Croatia reported.

Users who cannot use A1 services due to damage can either put it into "sleep mode" free of charge during non-use, request the disconnection of fixed services (free of charge and without the need to return the equipment), or activate replacement fixed services such as Flatbox.

"In this challenging year for all residents of Croatia, marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, Zagreb and the last devastating earthquake in the broader area of Sisak, Petrinja, and Glina, the A1 Croatia mission is active assistance to the community. We are at the disposal of the Government of the Republic of Croatia," said A1 Croatia.

A1 Croatia has already donated 2 million kuna to repair the aftermath of the earthquakes in the cities of Petrinja, Sisak, and Glina and other cities and municipalities affected by the devastating earthquakes.

Also, A1 Croatia provided additional communication equipment for Sisak General Hospital and the radio stations in Petrinja and Sisak, as the local radio was the first source of information about the earthquake for the local population.

They donated ten free lines for the Croatian Red Cross employees. They also provided free minutes of conversations for experts who provide psychological assistance. A1 employees collect essential hygiene items, food and water, blankets, pillows, lamps, batteries, and other necessary things to deliver to the affected area.

For more on the Petrinja earthquake and to see how you can donate money, food, humanitarian, sanitary, and material aid, follow our dedicated section.

December 22, 2020 – The Sisak-Moslavina County Development Agency SIMORA and A1 Croatia, a leading technological innovator, have entered into business cooperation to develop the video game industry in the Business Incubator in Novska.

As Jutarnji list reports, SIMORA, a development center for the video game industry, and A1 Hrvatska, a leading technological innovator, have signed a multi-year agreement on cooperation and services exchange.

Business cooperation has common goals: development of the video game industry in the Business Incubator in Novska, including the development of video games on the most modern mobile and fixed technology, promotion of innovations, as well as stronger involvement of ICT industry and video game industry in education, public, and private sector throughout Croatia.

The specific location where the cooperation will take place is the PISMO Business Incubator in Novska, recently declared the best EU co-financed project in Croatia for 2020.

"At a time of unprecedented public health and economic challenges, we are especially pleased that the project of our development agency is recognized by important market participants aimed at digitalization of society, the progress of the local community, and thus the whole of Croatia. I am convinced that the inclusion of A1 Croatia will further accelerate the achievement of the goal of our county becoming a true center of the gaming industry, the fastest growing industry in the world," said Ivo Žinić, prefect of Sisak-Moslavina County.

The PISMO business incubator currently consists of two facilities with about twenty offices, co-working, and conference rooms equipped with the latest technology such as motion capture, photogrammetric and video, and music studio, CNC, 3D printer, VR, and other ICT equipment.

"About forty startups from the gaming industry are already operating in our incubator. It proves that we are succeeding in our intention to give young people the opportunity to stay in Sisak-Moslavina County or a reason to move in. The support provided by our new technological partner A1 Croatia is related, among other things, to access to the most modern mobile and fixed network. This is certainly one of the basic preconditions for our further development and growth in the direction of building a future Gaming campus worth almost 400 million kunas," explains Mario Čelan, director of SIMORA.

In addition to optical fixed infrastructure with access speeds of as much as 1 Gbps, A1 Croatia also ensures the availability of a real 5G network, gigabit speeds, and extremely low latency.

"A1 Croatia is a company that brings innovations and recognizes technological and social trends. So it's no surprise that everything related to the gaming industry has been in our focus for a long time. The potential that we recognized in the PISMO incubator we plan to realize much wider than technical support. In addition to content related to esport and hackathon events, we will organize numerous demonstrations and trainings related to the use of new technologies together. This partnership will certainly be one of the wheels of development of modern, digital society," concludes Tomislav Makar, General Manager for Technology and Information Technologies at A1 Croatia.

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The second largest operator in the Republic of Croatia, A1 Croatia (Hrvatska), has now launched a new service after only two weeks of having tested it, the fastest ever. And it's already bringing in visible results.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of October, 2019, at a time when classic stores are gradually being transformed digitally by being closed down and being replaced by online and mobile stores, turning into cafes and lounge bars, or expanding their offer indefinitely, an alternative has emerged. A1 Croatia officially unveiled the very first A1 Virtual Shop on Tuesday.

The new store is a mix of a physical store, telesales, and an online store. There is something for everyone, and it does not fall into any of these categories alone. In other words, many elements have already been seen before, or should not be classed as some sort of "major" innovation. However, the A1 Virtual Shop is the first service ever officially launched by this telecom after only two weeks of testing.

Ivana Marković, managing director for the A1 Croatia private customers segment, says they did not expect that A1 Croatia's new service would have such an impact on the market.

"For the last two weeks, we've been quietly testing it through our website, so we just opened the possibility, we didn't tell anyone about it, and users have accepted this service so much that this shop already has a sales result at the level of our smaller point of sale,'' explained Marković.

She noted that the effect of the A1 Virtual Shop is comparable to as much as half the traffic generated by the average A1 Centre, which is what an A1 Croatia retail outlet such as the one located on Gajeva street in the very centre of Zagreb boasts. Ivan Skender of business transformation, human resources and corporate communications for A1 Croatia says that something similar was offered a year ago by a bank.

The bank in question is Addiko Bank. The service consists of the possibility that you can sort something out that you'd usually need to go into branch for via video call, and a very similar thing is now offered by A1 Croatia.

However, the operator has made one small but important change for the users. The seller doesn't actually see the buyer in their new virtual store.

"We've allowed the buyer to be able to see the seller, that he can show them everything in the store that is the same as in any of our outlets, and that they can talk to them, but the seller on the other hand can't see the user, but only hears them, and that proved crucial,'' explained Skender.

He revealed the fact that they made the first store of its kind in a sort of movie studio on Hondlova street in Zagreb, and that they currently have three sellers working weekdays from 10:00 to 22:00.

"Due to demand, we'll triple our capacity, probably extend our working hours and introduce other innovations, and it's possible that this may become a model for the transformation of our shopping centres, since this could potentially increase their efficiency," Skender concluded.

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