Project of Construction of Broadband Infrastructure in Rural Areas of Serbia without Fixed Internet to Begin

The Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications of Serbia and the operator selected at the public invitation procedure are to build the communications infrastructure in rural areas of Serbia without a fixed internet connection.

As said in the decision adopted by the Commission for Control of State Aid, a part of the funds for said activities is to be provided by the ministry (RSD 5,220,000), whereas another part is to come from the project loan of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) of RSD 2.1 billion (RSD 2,129,400,000).

In 2017 and 2018, the ministry, in cooperation with the EBRD analyzed the availability of an internet connection and then, last year, created a map of the areas lacking a fixed internet connection in Serbia.

The results have shown that over 500,000 households in rural areas do not have a fixed internet connection as operators have no economic interest to develop this kind of infrastructure in these locations.

In order for an even regional development to be enabled, the ministry has decided to launch a project of construction of broadband infrastructure, as said in the decision of the Commission, which defines state aid of around RSD 5.2 million for activities on this project.

According to the decision, state incentives would enable public purpose facilities, entailing at least 600 schools, and public institutions, local communities and other state and local self-government organs to be connected to the internet.

The assessments cited in the document say that there are also around 90,000 households in the areas around these public facilities.

– Upon the completion of the construction and the commissioning of the built broadband communications infrastructure, the plan is for the ministry to entrust it to an operator for management, use and maintenance for a period of 25 years – the decisions says and adds that, after that period, the operator is obliged to transfer the management of the infrastructure back to the ministry.

The future operator will be obliged to provide the service of internet access without compensation, at no less than 100 Mbps in a public purpose facility and to make the new generation broadband service available to no less than 95% of the households in a given place.

The Commission's assessment says that, when the broadband coverage is insufficient, an intervention through public funds may be necessary, and the estimate is that, without the state's intervention, it is impossible to bridge the digital gap between urban and rural areas, which, according to the Commission, could lead to an economic and social exclusion of local residents and companies.

Ministarstvo turizma i omladine Republike Srbije

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj Beograd

Komisija za kontrolu državne pomoći

construction of broadband infrastructure

communications infrastructure