The Minister of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Edin Forto, signed today an addendum to the Contract on the Procurement of Equipment for the Implementation of the Project for the Digitalization of Public Broadcasting Services in BiH with Denis Nikola Kulišić, Director of Odašiljača i veza d.o.o. Zagreb.
The addendum was signed in order to ensure a realistic deadline for the completion of the remaining project activities by June 1, 2026, since circumstances beyond the Ministry’s control have slowed down the pace of work.
These include unresolved property and legal issues of certain facilities where the equipment is planned to be installed, limited access to locations, activities that require mutual agreement and coordination of public broadcasting services, and various technical and infrastructural prerequisites at locations, including those outside BiH, which require special procedures.
The extension of the deadline is also influenced by the fact that with the onset of the winter period, access is expected to be more difficult, as well as working conditions at mountainous locations where it is necessary not only to install but also to test new equipment.
The contract amendment did not change the financial terms of the contract on the implementation of the Digitalization Project, i.e. OiV has no financial claims against the Ministry regarding the extension of the implementation deadline.
All equipment was delivered in February, all planned training for professional staff of public broadcasting services was completed, and most of the equipment was assembled, installed and put into operation. In parallel, the remaining facilities are being successively put into operation throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is increasing the digital signal coverage in all nine digital regions in BiH every day.
Forto recalled that Bosnia and Herzegovina was the last country in Europe without a digital TV signal and emphasized that the Ministry remains committed to the successful completion of the digitalization of public broadcasting services, a key step towards the modernization of the broadcasting system.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is a signatory to the Geneva 2006 Agreement (GE-06), which committed it to switch off the analogue signal by mid-2015 at the latest, while the Strategy for the Transition from Analogue to Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting from 2009 planned an ambitious deadline for BiH to complete this process by the end of 2011, MKTBiH announced.
