There has been a lot of talk about the introduction of 5G in Croatia, with the introduction of 5G in Osijek generating an even stronger response in both a negative sense. Now come the developments in infrastructure which are necessary to facilitate this important network transition.

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 29th of January, 2020, this regards a development of telecommunication infrastructure in the municipalities of Antunovac, Čepin, Erdut, Ernestinov, Šodolovac, Vladislavci and Vuka. The project has the intention of seeing the network reach almost 10,000 private business and public users.

As an important step towards the introduction of 5G in Osijek, a partnership agreement for the implementation of a project to build a broadband network in seven municipalities in Osijek-Baranja County, worth more than 54 million kuna in total, was signed recently by representatives of that county and Croatian Telecom/Hrvatska Telekom (HT).

Milan Meden, chief operating officer of HT's infrastructure services department, explained that all residents of the area will have the opportunity to get broadband with a minimum speed of 40 megabits and more, and a minimum of 90 percent of optical infrastructure will be built, which means that there will be a potential 10,000 users who will have a speed of 100 megabits or more made available to them.

"As the Government proclaimed Osijek the first 5G city in Croatia, HT is continuing its infrastructure investments in optical and mobile 5G networks, which means that the area will be covered by new broadband technologies. We will increase the user experience, increase current internet speeds, enable new services and open up new jobs,'' Medan noted.

County Prefect Ivan Anusic expects that this investment, as well as the very introduction of 5G in Osijek will bring with it further progress and improve the quality of life and work of citizens and businesses.

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There has been a lot of talk about the introduction of the 5G network in Croatia ever since the idea of the continental Croatian city of Osijek becoming the first Croatian 5G city first surfaced several months ago. Both negative and positive opinions on the first Croatian 5G city exist, and now the Croatian Government has confirmed that Osijek will indeed be the very first Croatian 5G city, and the entire city will be covered by 5G by the end of 2020.

As Marija Brnic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 23rd of January, 2020, in addition to Osijek, the continental Croatian cities of Karlovac and Bjelovar applied to become the first Croatian 5G city, as did the Northern Adriatic city of Rijeka, the European Capital of Culture for this year.

Osijek will be the first major Croatian city to build a 5G network within it by December the 31st this year, and then put it into full commercial operation. At today's session, the Croatian Government accepted the proposal, which has been led by a working group consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, HAKOM, and three well known network operators: HT, A1 and Tele2, since back in March last year.

"I believe that by doing this, we'll contribute to the development of the eastern part of Croatia," stated the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butkovic, adding that the introduction of 5G technology in the City of Osijek will open the door to the introduction of this brand new technology throughout the Republic of Croatia.

As previously mentioned, the cities of Karlovac, Bjelovar, and Rijeka also applied for the 5G network, and in addition to synergies with the Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem Project, Osijek was decided on because it will not be particularly technically demanding for the construction of such mobile communications networks. 

The first Croatian 5G city has a university and industry, and a continually developing ICT start-up community, on top of all of that, the surrounding area has a great potential for deploying 5G technology in the sectors of both agriculture and tourism.

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As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 8th of September, 2019, Croatian Telecom (HT/Hrvatski Telekom) has announced that it plans to deploy as many as nine 5G base stations in the city of Osijek, Slavonia.

For a brief comparison, there are currently ten across the whole of the Republic of Croatia. Five of them are in Samobor and Sveta Nedelja, near Zagreb, four are on the island of Krk, and one is at the company headquarters building in Radnička Street in the City of Zagreb.

Boris Drilo, a member of HT's board, said that they are considering such an investment in Osijek, because it is assumed that this city will most likely be chosen as the first Croatian 5G city, therefore, Osijek is where all three operators will test their 5G technology.

''We don't know for sure whether it will be Osijek, because the 5G city is an EU initiative that came to the Croatian Government and then it called on cities to make contact, so, so far, we don't have any information on which city was really selected. However, given the interest shown by Osijek, then Osijek Software City and other factors, it's certain that this is an option,'' says Drilo.

He added that they are interested in expanding their 5G infrastructure in other parts of the country too, and that he is open to cooperation with local government units. He explained that HT's development path for 5G is very clear.

Firstly, they are currently working on a pilot phase of 5G, and they received the green light to test this technology on the 3.5 GHz to 100 MHz band in Krk, Samobor and Zagreb. He stated that they were able to achieve 1 Gbps data transfer and 58.2 Mbps uploads in real-world conditions.

Drilo emphasised, however, that this cannot be achieved everywhere, as the frequency bands are not yet fully prepared for 5G. Therefore, he sees the Croatian Government's decision as the next step as to which city will be Croatia's first 5G city, and, ultimately, for the commercialisation of 5G, he sees the improvement of 5G licensing conditions as a whole as necessary.

"For the 5G network only, HT would have to pay the same amount of frequency fees as for the existing spectrum, and that must change, because under such conditions, 5G will not be able to exist here in Croatia," he says.

Hr went on to explain that the spectrum fees paid by HT are still 350 percent higher than those paid on average by other members of the Deutsche Telekom group. He added that while the government has taken steps to improve the situation, there's still a lot of work to be done.

''It's still an extremely high price and the whole telecommunications industry in Croatia has a unique attitude on this issue. We're also discussing this with the regulator, and in addition, it should be borne in mind that 5G is a young technology, which offers a lot of potential to both society and the economy, but currently has limited commercial potential,'' Drilo concluded.

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