ZAGREB, September 7, 2019 - Hrvatski Telekom (HT) has invested over 7.5 billion kuna (1 billion euro) in digital infrastructure in Croatia in the last four years, providing households, businesses and the public sector with better and faster access to the Internet and digital content, CEO Kostas Nebis said in the coastal city of Šibenik on Friday, adding that more investment projects are planned.

"I really believe that through investment HT, being a large company, can contribute even more to society, economic development and the digital economy in Croatia, but that would also require the government to reduce parafiscal taxes, especially the right of way and radio frequency charges," Nebis said at an annual meeting with the press, his first since taking over the company's helm four months ago.

"The construction of mobile and fixed convergence networks and services, simplification and digitisation of user experience, and development of HT as a digital company with the adoption of new technologies are our main development goals, along with the further development of broadband services and ICT," Nebis said.

Management board member Boris Drilo said that HT's largest project was the comprehensive modernisation of the mobile network, which is due to be completed by the end of year. His colleague Saša Kramar said that HT had so far digitised over 30 percent of domestic companies with over 25,000 employees, and carried out over 10 "smart cities" projects.

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As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 10th of June, 2019, Microsoft, the world's largest and best known software company, has awarded its ''best business partner award'' to a company whose core business is not IT for the first time ever in the Republic of Croatia. Congratulations, Croatian Telecom!

Croatian Telecom (HT) has won the title of Microsoft's best business partner in Croatia for 2019. Microsoft has stated that Croatian Telecom is recognised as one of their best global partners in excellence, innovation and the implementation of Microsoft-based user solutions. Microsoft and Croatian Telecom collaborate most intensively in offering cloud services for business, especially Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

Tatjana Skoko, director of Microsoft Croatia., emphasised the fact that the competition for the award was very high. In the final, there were 2,900 companies nominated from as many as 115 countries.

"I'd like to congratulate Croatin Telecom on this important recognition of the company's contribution and I'm delighted to see the success that comes as a result of a vision and business model that truly transforms the market, therefore, I look forward to continued successful partnerships and future projects," said T. Skoko.

Saša Kramar, a member of Croatian Telecom's management board and chief operating officer, stated that all companies operating in Croatia, regardless of their size, can benefit from this cooperation. "The digitalisation of business is imperative today, and Croatian Telecom and Combis make all the benefits of digitisation available owing to their services, and thus helps them to be more successful in their business in Croatia and out in the world," noted Kramar.

In the meantime, Croatian Telecom has announced a new vision of its business, with which it wants to position itself as a digital company rather than as a primary telecom.

Croatian Telecom's new CEO, Kostas Nebis, pointed out the fact that the company is committed to digitising Croatia. "Here at Croatian Telecom, we want to build a world of better opportunities, bringing everyone the benefits of digitisation so that everyone can take advantage of the best that life has to offer them," concluded Nebis.

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ZAGREB, June 7, 2019 - The Hrvatski Telekom (HT) telecommunications company has been proclaimed as Microsoft's Partner of the Year in Croatia for 2019, HT reported on Thursday and underlined that this is the first time Microsoft has awarded that title to a telecommunications company.

"The company has been recognised as one Microsoft's best global partners for excellence in innovations and implementing user solutions based on Microsoft technology," HT reported.

Awards are granted in several categories and the winners were selected from a pool of 2,900 participants from 115 countries.

"Hrvatski telecom has been recognised for providing extraordinary solutions and services and for the excellent engagement of its branches in Croatia," the company said in a press release.

Hrvatski telecom recalled that cooperation with Microsoft has continued for several years, and HT has expanded its portfolio of services and Microsoft tools like Office 365 and Microsoft 365 which provides numerous advantages to users.

"All companies in Croatia, regardless of their size, can benefit from this cooperation. Particularly today when digitisation in business is an imperative," HT's management said.

Microsoft partner awards are granted at the country level to companies that have shown business excellence in providing Microsoft solutions for more customers in the preceding year.

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Croatian Telecom has one of the ten fastest mobile networks in the world and the second fastest in the Deutsche Telekom group, the operator announced. This is the result of an independent measurement project, the so-called P3 certificate. HT has won 948 points out of a maximum of 1,000. This is the best result in Croatia among all the measurements which the P3 organisation has conducted so far, reports Poslovni.hr on January 29, 2019.

Boris Drilo, a member of the company’s Management Board and the managing director for Tech and Information Technologies, was understandably pleased.

"This is the result of the announced one billion kuna investments in the mobile network and proof that the investment has provided tangible results for our users since now an independent survey has confirmed that Croatian Telecom has the fastest mobile network in Croatia," said Drilo. He added that he was especially proud of the result given that P3 has recently made its rating criteria stricter.

The survey involved more detailed measurements in towns, evaluating the quality of the network on local roads and, for the first time, crowdsourcing the collection of data. This means that the most widely used internet services in Croatia were covered by the survey, integrating part of the code into their sites and sending data on user load speeds to P3.

"This result is a consequence of the modernisation of 600 base stations throughout Croatia. By the end of 2019, we will modernise the remaining 1400 stations,” said Drilo. He explained that the ultimate goal was to be able to offer a gigabit mobile internet.

“We already offer speeds above 200 Mbps in the 4G network, which can be used by all those who own the latest flagship phones, meaning those which came out during the fall and this winter. Our network is ready to offer speeds of up to 800 Mbps. However, we are still waiting for such users. I can honestly say that Croatian Telecom has a network which offers higher speeds than today's mobiles phones and other devices can support,” concluded Drilo.

Translated from Poslovni.hr (reported by Bernard Ivezić).

More news on Croatian Telecom can be found in the Business section.

Croatian Telecom rides on the back of a good tourist season as their profitability continues to grow.

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of November, 2018, an excellent and highly successful summer is now behind Croatian Telecom. The communications company can now freely boast of its significant increase in profitability, as well as a change in the revenue structure which also aided the increases.

The widely used operator, which has the most liquid share of all on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, concluded that its net profits rose from 19.1 percent to 864 million kuna, or 18.6 percent to 872 million kuna in the first nine months of this year alone, when the the non-controlling share is also accounted for.

More importantly, Croatian Telecom's operating profits grew by 6.5 percent compared to the same period last year, to a massive 2.39 billion kuna. This also means that the operating margin has risen to 41.9 percent from last year's recorded 38.8 percent. The only indicator that continues to stagnate is the company's revenue. Croatian Telecom's total revenue for the first nine months of 2018 fell by 0.1 percent to 5 billion kuna and 897 million as a direct result of a good tourist season.

Although operators have been somewhat negatively affected by the abolition of mobile roaming this season, Croatian Telecom has seen its revenues slightly increase in the third quarter, from 2.15 billion kuna last year to 2.16 billion kuna this year. Profits gained before tax has also increased, from 388.4 million kuna last year to 516.3 million kuna this year.

When it comes to alterations within the revenue structure, the main news is that Croatian Telecom has started to rely more on mobile telecommunications again. In the first nine months of last year, fixed telecommunication within the company was stronger than mobile communications by nearly a quarter of a billion kuna. This year, mobile communications grew by 5.3 percent to 2.61 billion kuna, while fixed communication fell 4.7 percent to 2.57 billion kuna.

Croatian Telecom states they have invested up to 1.24 billion kuna in the modernisation of both fixed and mobile infrastructure.

Davor Tomašković, Croatian Telecoms's Chairman of the Board, praised the fact that they have now achieved their best results in the past five years.

"During the first nine months [of 2018], we've achieved excellent results, and according to the growth of all key financial indicators, it is one of the best quarters for Croatian Telecom in the last five years," concluded Tomašković.

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Click here for the original article by Bernard Ivezic for Poslovni Dnevnik

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