PHARE 2006

To further improve the knowledge of the electronic communications markets in Croatia, HAKOM requested a study to research and analyse market developments. The main goal of the study was to provide information necessary to steer the policy in the direction that would support research , development of new products and business strategies and also to provide strategic assessment of the role of regulatory rules (laws, bylaws, decisions) in the telecommunications sector. The latter made a particular focus on how increased competition delivers benefits for customers.

EU agreed to finance the study by 150 000 euro and it was carried out between January 2009 and September 2009.

With regard to the expected developments from 2009 until 2011 experts of the project predict the following:

It is expected that the market for telecommunications services will only show a modest increase of 90 millions euro till a level of close to 2.1 billions euro (2069 millions);
Major reason for this modest market growth will be the decrease of the market for fixed telephony which is expected to decrease with a rate of 6 to 7 % annually. Decrease is mainly caused by the substitution of fixed telephony by mobile telephony and the more intensive use of the various broadband facilities;
Major driver for the growth of the telecommunications market will still be the mobile telephony market. Although it is expected that the mobile traffic will show a decrease, major growth will come from new services as mobile broadband which will generate new traffic revenues.

More can be found in the Report on the situation on the telecommunications sector and importance of telecommunications in the Croatian economy

In cooperation with the project team HAKOM carried out a survey on the consumer view of the market. Major findings of the survey were the following:

21% of the respondents had heard of HAKOM, of which more than half see the role of HAKOM as positive;
The majority of users are satisfied with the information provided from the operator's fixed mobile network;
Although a number of households still use dial-up internet access, slightly over a third of households in Croatia have broadband internet access;
57% of respondents without broadband Internet do not perceive a need for broadband internet, however 25% of respondents without broadband internet consider it as too expensive or unavailable;
A little more than half of respondents who use broadband internet do not know how fast their Internet access is and 37% of them are not familiar with the exact conditions of their Internet package;

More on the results of the consumer survey can be found in the Report on the role of regulation and consumer view of the market

Main recommendations by the project to HAKOM are:

Introduce regulatory accounting to determine acceptable price levels for use of HT infrastructure by competitors
Introduction of ‘naked DSL’ should be considered;
Reconsider the tariffs for having telecommunications cables in the ground as they are very high and effectively introduce an extra tax on telecommunications;
Consider the introduction of regulations for Fibre to the Home;
Think about how to introduce an effective appeal procedure, if necessary HAKOM should think about a possibly internal solution;
Continue with public polls every year.

Other expert reports and opinions provided as the result of the Phare 2006 project can be found here: