After HT and Vipnet pay 300 million kuna, they will receive a license

HT and Vipnet are pleased that HAKOM has awarded them the radio frequency spectrum of the so-called digital dividend until 2024 based on the conducted tender, for which they will receive the license in mid-November after paying a total of around 300 million kuna into the state budget.

This information comes from these companies, which, in addition to their satisfaction, also point out some of the problems that will accompany the use of this radio frequency spectrum freed in Croatia after the transition from analog to digital broadcasting. The entry or one-time fee, according to data from HAKOM’s website, is estimated at 150 million kuna, and there is also an annual fee.

Emphasizing that they have received exactly the frequency band they requested and consider the most valuable, HT adds that the license for this will be issued upon payment of a total amount of 169.9 million kuna with a due date of November 17 of this year.

Given the annual significant growth in data traffic in mobile networks, they believe that the expansion of utilized frequency resources is necessary, which is now enabled by the digital dividend. The advantages for users and society as a whole are numerous, from providing high-speed wireless broadband data services and achieving national coverage to substituting xDSL in rural areas, HT notes.

In this frequency area, they plan to cover rural areas, islands, mountains, and national parks with super-fast mobile internet.

Vipnet also emphasizes that the digital dividend is suitable for covering rural areas, and such an investment program will be initiated as soon as the mentioned areas are freed from interference. Highlighting that this is the task of the competent authorities, i.e., international agreements, Vipnet emphasizes that the tender for this allocation was initiated before achieving the commercial usability of the mentioned spectrum to assist the state budget.

They say they support this and are ready to immediately pay the one-time fee, but the question arises regarding the annual fees for using the spectrum that is (still) not fully usable. Therefore, they hope that in Croatia, following the example of some European countries, annual fees will be adjusted to the level of spectrum pollution, as otherwise, charging the full annual fee for an economic good that cannot be fully utilized would be an unjust decision and would actually penalize those who have applied for the tender at this moment.