The main goals of the Telecommunications Association which was founded within the Croatian Chamber of Economy (Hrvatska Gospodarska Komora – HGK) include the liberalization of the Croatian telecom market, the opening of discussions regarding possibilities of renting and constructing optic nets, the providing of services of European quality and standards.
The founding session was attended by 30 representatives of companies, providers of telecom services in Croatia. On that session Petar Čavlović, general director and board member of 'Portus', was elected president.
The Association will start operating during the first trimester in 2006 and Čavlović said that it was for certain that nearly all companies from the targeted sector would participate in its activities. The Croatian telecom market lists 50 of those companies.
He added that the founding of the Association was a logical result of all that has been going on within the telecom market during the past one and a half year. In that time the market started to loosen up due to the appearance of new operators in fixed and mobile telephony, due to the introduction of new technology and due to the first transfers from analogue to digital television.
The Ministry's State Secretary for Transport, Dražen Breglec welcomed the founding of the Association emphasizing how difficult has been to reach this phase of opening up the Croatian telecom market. He added that the process was still ongoing and that Croatia already was offering an efficient and interesting telecom market.
He pointed out that the influence of that market was very important for the further development and functioning of the country's economics since it included investments of hundred of millions of kunas per year, provided by operators. Such investments, besides the liberalization of the market, would also support the possibilities of offering cheaper telecom services to the Croatian citizen next to similar amounts of investment.
Ljubica Herceg, head of the Transportation and Communications Department at HGK, stated how satisfied she was with the companies’ interest for the founding of the Association, especially the companies employed in the area of cable distribution – of which 12 are operating in Croatia.
She also presented an assessment according to which the annual value of the telecom market in Croatia lied above HRK 20 million with a constant tendency of growth. (Hina)