Bosnia and Herzegovina still has the lowest average internet speeds among the Western Balkan countries, despite some progress in recent years. In practice, this means that most users can function in accordance with their daily needs, but the speeds are restrictive and less reliable. We investigated what are the key obstacles that the country needs to overcome in order to at least catch up with our neighbors or at least get closer to European standards for broadband access.
How many times have you reached out to measure your internet speed because it seemed slower than it should or what you need? It’s not without reason. Bosnia and Herzegovina has the slowest internet in the region.
Data from measurement platforms show that average data speeds are up to several times lower than in other Western Balkan countries. At the same time, we pay the same or more for a similar service package.
Coverage of ultra-fast broadband internet and access to optical networks in our country is also significantly below average, compared to the Western Balkan average.
Among the largest operators we contacted, only BH Telecom responded. Investment in the expansion of optical infrastructure and the gradual migration of users has meant that at the moment about 20 percent of users use speeds between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps. The biggest challenges are the slow administration in issuing licenses and different legislation in cantons, as well as the lack of strategic documents that would regulate this area.
The Communications Regulatory Agency (RAK) tells us that operators are developing a fixed network without prescribed obligations, in accordance with their own commercial interests, while in the mobile network they meet certain conditions for obtaining licenses. They consider the adoption of a development strategy in accordance with the European agenda for broadband access to be crucial.
“Measures that need to be considered, among other things, include the harmonization of regulations in Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding network construction, the establishment of a financing model for non-competitive areas, and the encouragement of the development and use of digital services, as a driver of development on the demand side,” the Agency stated.
The Minister of Communications was very direct. The SNSD has been blocking the broadband access strategy for two years for reasons known to them. On the other hand, dominant telecom companies do not compete and build some kind of monopoly.
“If there was real competition, they would invest in their infrastructure and steal users from each other. They do not do this because there is a belief in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which I think is wrong, that Bosniaks should be on BH Telekom, Serbs on Mtel, and Croats on Eronet. I have to express myself this way, but it is the brutal truth,” said Forto.
The net profits of dominant telecom operators and their profit margins indicate that two out of three are very capable of more serious investments in infrastructure development. The lack of a legal and political framework for the leap into the digital future and the so-called ethnic division of business interests are factors of stagnation, agrees one of the authors of the recently presented Roadmap for Digital Transformation.
“But also the interests of certain companies that, it seems to me, do not want to invest more than what is necessary and necessary to have a nice profit on the complete provision of services,” believes the co-author of the Roadmap for Digital Transformation, Dejan Lučka.
Lucka points out that the countries of the region have not fully addressed the reduction of the digital divide, but they have come a long way compared to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Union has set goals through the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) that this year all households have access to fast internet of 100 Mbps, and in five years to reach 1 Gbps and full coverage of the 5G network, BHRT writes.
