TELCO INFRASTRUCTURE CRITICAL TO FUNCTIONING OF SOCIETY

DANIEL ŠUŠNJAR

President of the FIC Telecommunications Committee (Telenor d.o.o.)

The 2020 White Book will provide suggestions on how to cut red tape and improve the environmental framework governing base station construction

The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has proved that the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications and to RATEL telco industry is more important today than ever before, with our [telco regulator] for their significant support and timely reactions. networks representing bloodlines that provide platforms and In order to be able to support society in the days ahead, given that connectivity for living a new normal. Does it ring a bell when we the crisis is not over yet, we should take this moment to solve some mention celebrating kids’ birthdays via Zoom, calling family and friends of long-standing problems that require even greater cooperation and to check on their safety, completing the school year or gaining a univer support from the government and regulator. Although our equipment sity degree online, having meetings with colleagues through Microsoft is typical, certified and produced by globally renowned vendors, we Teams, ordering food deliveries over the phone or via some online app have been delayed significantly with base station deployment. It takes during a curfew, exchanging pictures through Viber or WhatsApp with an average of nine months to complete all the paperwork for placing loved ones you can't meet up with due to the pandemic lockdown? And a new base station, due to bottlenecks in construction regulations have you asked yourself who enables internet access and connectivity? caused by groundless environmental concerns about electromagne The answer is telecommunications tic emissions (EMF), with EMF companies, or telcos. exposure limits in Serbia stricter

And how critical is it that their By reaching almost all citizens and than in the EU, and unjustified operations are secure? I'll leave that up to you to decide. communicating with them through smart requirements for conducting en vironmental impact assessments.

Let me share with you just a mobile devices and being able to confirm Those of our customers who had few examples of the contribution of our industry: e-learning was the identities of postpaid subscribers, to shift instantly to working from home instead of in offices did not supported through free-of-charge mobile operators are the natural partner have so much time to wait. That's internet access to platforms such as RTS Planeta and Moja Skola, as well as via MS Teams and Zoom apps; to the Government and other industries in creating synergy for widespread digital why we need to cut unnecessary red tape and improve the environ mental framework governing base mobile operators provided more identifications station construction, which will be than 1,000 mobile phones for the elaborated in greater detail in the final exam at primary schools, while FIC White Book 2020. internet access was additionally secured for both pupils and students When it comes to digitalisation, there are also things that need to be from socially vulnerable groups; calls to National COVID-19 Centre done promptly. Faster digital transformation, to reflect new norms by numbers were also free-of-charge. Prompted by record amounts of adopting the framework to conclude paperless contracts and establish data and voice traffic, mobile operators exerted tremendous efforts to personal digital identifications (IDs) at the scale of the entire Serbian expand the capacities of critical telco infrastructure, which was crucial population, is a must. EU regulation governing this field is already in for securing the continuity of business and emergency services in the place, the Serbian Government is pushing its part of the job, while we early days of the COVID-19 crisis. We are very proud of all our colleagues, already have an advanced digital framework in the banking industry, who worked day and night to ensure the same quality of telco services so it is now up to those of us from the private sector to step up with in such a challenging environment, while we are also grateful to the innovative solutions. ■