The three biggest telecom operators in Croatia - HT, A1, and Telemach - are satisfied with a public auction at which they have been awarded licences to operate 5G, with HT and A1 saying they would start operating at new frequencies as of Thursday, while Telemach said it would offer 5G services first in Osijek.

The public auction for 5G frequencies, advertised by the Croatian Regulatory Authority for Network Industries (HAKOM), lasted between July 12 and 27.

HT 5G network to be the biggest

HT said that it had obtained the most of the radiofrequency spectrum at the auction, for HRK 130 million, which, it said, would make its 5G network the biggest and fastest in the country.

“Already now with 600 5G base stations HT covers two million people and is the leading operator in terms of the development of the 5G network and 5G services. The latest auction creates conditions for that status to be further consolidated in the future,” HT said, noting that it had also assumed the obligation to cover certain uninhabited or poorly inhabited areas and build the network at the pace set by HAKOM.

Of the 600 5G base stations, 149 or one in four operate at a frequency of 3.6 GHz, which enables even faster services for half a million residents in 12 cities (Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, Osijek, Dubrovnik, Karlovac, Pula, Slavonski Brod, Sibenik, Varazdin, Velika Gorica, and Zadar), HT said.

A1 said that it had activated the 5G network at frequencies of 700 and 3600 MHz.

The operator noted that in the period from 2021 to 2027 it planned to cover with the 5G network 90% of Croatia’s population and 50% of its territory as well as all main road and railway routes.

Telemach said that upon obtaining licences for 5G frequencies it would embark on building a new 5G gigabit mobile network with significant investments, along with the already launched investment in a 10 giga fixed optical network.

The company said it planned to invest an additional €130 million in increasing coverage, significantly improving quality and introducing superfast 5G technology.

“We have invested €14.4 million in the purchase of the frequency spectrum and now intensive work will begin on building infrastructure that very soon, in the coming months already, will significantly improve coverage and quality of experience for around one million users of Telemach’s existing mobile network. The investment has doubled our frequency spectrum,” Telemach said.