Bosnia and Herzegovina’s telecom’s watchdog the Communications Regulatory Agency (Regulatorna agencija za komunikacije, RAK) has issued 4G spectrum licences to the nation’s trio of mobile network operators (MNOs): BH Telecom, Telekom Srpske (which operates under the m:tel banner), and HT Mostar (which offers services under the HT Eronet brand). The concessions are valid for 15 years and oblige the licence holders to begin offering commercial 4G services within one month of the award. As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, the cellcos are also required to ensure the networks covers 90% of the country’s territory within five years of the award.
The RAK did not stipulate which spectrum band the allocated frequencies were in, stating simply that the ‘assigned frequencies for 4G will allow coverage of rural areas with lower population density, and operators will be able to plan the development of networks more efficiently’. TeleGeography notes that a December 2017 decision from the RAK had identified the 1800MHz band for LTE use, alongside the 900MHz and 2100MHz ranges, which are currently used for 2G and 3G networks, respectively.