Hakom - Croatian Post and Electronic Communications Agency

ZAGREB, 4 March 2015 – HAKOM’s Executive Director Mario Weber, and Deputy Director Marko Čavlović were invited by the GSM Association (GMA), the organizer of the Mobile World Congress, to attend the 20^th Congress which is taking place between 2 and 5 March in Barcelona. On that occasion they will hold bilateral meetings with representatives of regulators, operators and the industry.
 
One of the main topics of this year’s congress is “Will acquisitions and mergers between operators have a positive or negative impact on the market and end users?” Increasing demands of users and the need to invest into networks, together with increasing competition from OTT (Over The Top) providers of internet services, are forcing operators to start thinking more intensely about takeovers or mergers as a way of strengthening or saving their position on the market.
 
In addition to topics concerning takeover and merger of operators, this year’s program focused on topics concerning regulation of the Internet of Things (IoT), and the allocation of the RF spectrum for different uses. The Internet of Things represents significant progress for citizens, consumers, business uses and Governments. It offers numerous possibilities, such as decreased health service costs, decreased carbon dioxide emissions, increased access to education, improved security in the transport of passengers and goods, and many other measures aimed at increasing efficiency in different areas of society. It is estimated that there were 250 million M2M (Machine-to-Machine) links at the end of 2014 with the annual growth rate of 40%. Demand for Internet content has changed significantly in the past years which brings out an important issue of appropriate replanning and allocation of the RF spectrum due to changes in user needs.
 

ABOUT HAKOM: HAKOM (www.hakom.hr) - Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries – ensures preconditions for a fair market competition, stable growth and environment for innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market. HAKOM protects users’ interests and the possibility of choice among various communications and postal services at affordable prices, defines sustainable competitive conditions for operators and service providers under fair conditions for return on investment, and provides support to economic growth, public services and the quality of life in the Republic of Croatia by using modern technologies. HAKOM’ strategic goals are: to promote regulation of the electronic communications and postal services market, to support growth of investments and innovations in the electronic communications and postal services market, to provide efficient use of limited resources, to accelerate the growth of broadband products and services, to provide affordable offers of communications and postal services, to provide protection and informing of users, to build an efficient and comprehensive information system, to define and implement efficient processes, and to acquire multi-disciplinary competencies in market regulation.