e-READINESS - ASSESSMENT REPORT 2009

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Information Society Development

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA: e-READINESS ASSESSMENT REPORT 2009

Sarajevo 2010

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Table of Contents

Foreword

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Summary

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1.

INTRODUCTION

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2.

e-READINESS INDICATORS BY SECTOR

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2.1.

2.1.1 2.1.2

GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS Institutions at the State, Entity and Cantonal Level Institutions at the Municipal Level

16 16 19

2.2.

2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3

JUDICIARY Infrastructure Financing of Development Relevant Projects Contributing to the Judicial Reform

21 22 22 23

2.3.

EDUCATION

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2.4.

2.4.1 2.4.2 2.4.3 2.4.4 2.4.5 2.4.6 2.4.7

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES INDUSTRY Introduction Business Operations of the Information and Communications Technologies Industry Hardware Software Communications Internet Service Providers in BiH Conclusion

30 30 30 32 33 35 36 38

2.5.

2.5.1 2.5.2

PENETRATION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS Land Telephone Lines Mobile Telephone Lines

38 39 41

2.6.

HOUSEHOLDS

45

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3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5

IMPLEMENTATION STATUS FOR THE “ACTION PLAN OF INFORMATION SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT IN BiH” Legal Infrastructure e-Education e-Governance Information and Communications Technologies Infrastructure Information and Communications Technologies Industry

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4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7

IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF eSEE AGENDA AND eSEE AGENDA PLUS Background and Situation Overview eSEE Agenda 2002-2007 Implementation Progress of the eSEE Agenda Impact of eSEE Agenda in South Eastern Europe Economy and ICT in South Eastern Europe: Two Mutually Reinforcing Disciplines New Framework of Information Society Development: eSEE Agenda Plus 2007-2012 The Expected Impact of eSEE Agenda Plus Implementation

64 65 67 68 69 70 71 73

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5.1.

5.1.1 5.1.2 5.2

ANNEX Methodology Questions used for Research Collection of Data Overview of the Status of the Remaining eSEE Agenda Commitments

75 76 78 82 83

3.

50 53 56 60 62

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The UNDP is the global development network of the UN, an organisation advocating for change and connecting countries through knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.

The UNDP is on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As these countries develop their local capacity they can draw upon the people of the UNDP and its wide range of partners.

Copyright © 2010 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 48 Maršala Tita, 71000, Sarajevo.

Reviewed by: Yuri AFANASIEV, UN Resident Coordinator; Rudo VIDOVIĆ, Minister, Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH; Peter Van RUYSSEVELDT, Deputy Resident Representative; Armin SIRČO, Assistant Resident Representative; Vlatko DRMIĆ, Minister Advisor, Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH; Lucia DESIGIS, Programme Analyst; Asja ČENGIĆ, Communications Analyst; Marta NOVOVIĆ-MLINARIĆ, Communications Associate Project Manager: Nicola NIXON Team Leader and Editor: Tarik ZAIMOVIĆ Project Coordinator: Mersiha ĆURČIĆ Senior Project Consultant: Sabina ŽUNIĆ Authors: Tarik ZAIMOVIĆ, Sabina ŽUNIĆ, Zlatan ŠABIĆ, Fuad ĆURČIĆ, Nera NAZEČIĆ, Merima AVDAGIĆ, Brano VUJIČIĆ and Šadi MATAR Project Assistants: Lejla ADŽEM and Belma KARIĆ Cover design, DTP & layout: Mirza HASANEFENDIĆ

The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Development Programme.

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Foreword In November 2004 the Council of Ministers adopted a policy, strategy and action plan for the Development of an Information Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These documents marked a milestone and represent the first joint effort to strategically address the ICT domain.

Although BiH has achieved remarkable accomplishments over recent years, when it comes to the development of an information society we are still well behind others in relation to virtually all of the benchmarks.

The 2009 e-Readiness Assessment Report was jointly prepared by the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH and UNDP BiH, to assess and present the current electronic readiness of BiH society. We have investigated the capacity of government organisations, educational institutions and businesses and analysed the status of ordinary citizens as the ultimate beneficiaries of development in this field.

The Report establishes that BiH governments should move forward and make use of the existing and extensive infrastructure of computers, networks and the Internet, to enable better communications and service delivery. Although substantial work has been undertaken in the domain of e-Government systems and services, especially at the state level, government institutions still need to establish new modalities of service provision to citizens and thus move to a new level. Crucially, both government and telecom operators need to increase the current quantity of fixed and mobile telephone lines, which continue to remain below the regional standard.

The outstanding results evident in the education system need to be brought to the next level and our schools and universities need to be connected through regional research centres. All BiH universities and close to 100% of individual faculties throughout BiH are now connected to the Internet and equipped with student laboratories. However, even though the previous report’s target of 15 students per PC was achieved, we still need to boost the ratio of PC per pupil.

Interviews conducted with citizens have shown that individual e-Readiness is growing at a higher rate than in other improvement areas. In 2005 we saw an increase in individual readiness of over 4% and Internet penetration stood at 13% of households. Today, this percentage is more than 34%, which is in line with the regional average.

Finally, this report provides an indicative assessment of the level of implementation of the “Action Plan for the Development of an Information Society in BiH� as well as implementation of the SEE eAgenda and eAgenda Plus. The purpose of this assessment was to take a brief look at the level of implementation

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of the activities set out under the Action Plan and finds that on average about 50% or more of the set activities have been completed. We acknowledge that a more in-depth assessment is needed and consequently this assessment should be viewed only as a glance at information society efforts in BiH. We hope this report will prove useful for both government and ordinary citizens, and will provide us all with a better understanding of what needs to be achieved in order to enhance the development of this important aspect of the overall BiH road to the EU.

Yuri Afanasiev UN Resident Coordinator in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Rudo Vidović Minister, Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH

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Summary The “BiH e-Readiness Assessment Report 2009” offers a whole range of both interesting and unexpected results. On one hand it shows that BiH society has made remarkable progress in the development of information and communications technologies, while on the other hand BiH is shown to be lagging behind its regional neighbours in the implementation of scheduled activities. Hence primary research shows that government institutions, at all levels, have made progress when compared to 2005; for example, it is fascinating that over 95% of staff at the state, entity and canton level use computers.

On the other hand, the education sector shows that not all university professors have a PC at their workplace. Also, 79% of municipalities have their own Web page. However, it is important to point out that these Web pages are neither standardised, even at the cantonal level, nor are their domain names assigned in the same manner: rather they are a product of individual initiatives without any systematic support or formalised framework. This report shows that the average annual investment of municipalities in hardware and software is 50,000 KM, whereas their average budget is over 10 million KM. Furthermore, primary research illustrates that the judicial sector achieved the best results in regard to e-Readiness, because in percentage terms it took the biggest step forward regarding the use of ICT and realised projects from the “Strategy of Information Society Development”. Unfortunately, some courts still use bih.net.ba, teol.net or gmail.com e-mail and do not have uniform e-mail and Web addresses. The courts should begin to organise online address books in the near future, including both e-mail addresses and Web pages, because among 62 municipality, cantonal, basic and district court only 35% 1 of courts have Web pages in 2009.

The education sector took a major step forward in relation to 2005, particularly with regard to the pupil/student-computer ratio in primary and secondary schools. The situation at universities and faculties is quite imbalanced: some faculties made significant progress yet others regressed. On average 15 students in BiH use one computer. This Report shows an unsatisfactory situation at most faculties; however, an encouraging fact is that the percentage of primary and elementary schools with a computer laboratory has increased from 64% in 2005 to 73% of the analysed sample in 2009, with an Internet connection in almost all such classrooms.

The information and communications technologies (ICT) industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina recorded a small rate of growth up until the reporting year: a rate of around 5% in 2007. The worrying fact is that the trend of the ICT market growth rate did not follow the total industrial growth rate trend of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is interesting that, according to information submitted by 55 ISPs (Internet service providers), total ISP market revenue amounted to 51,623,213 KM, which represents 0.27% of the total gross domestic product (GDP) in BiH.

1 UNDP primary research conducted in April 2010

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As for the penetration of telecommunications networks, it is important to point out that the quality of landline and mobile networks rose dramatically from 2005 up until the reporting year. However, the achieved penetration rate of 24.6% 2 for landline telephony in BiH is substantially lower when compared to the EU-25 countries: excluding Romania and Bulgaria where the average penetration rate is around 45%. It is also important to mention that in addition to the three main telecom operators there are 13 alternative operators that emerged due to the liberalisation of the telecommunications market in 2007. Their emergence increased market competition for telecommunications services that up until then had been monopolised by the dominant operators.

As for ICT household penetration, on average 51% of respondents have a PC at home, while in 2005 only 19.5% of respondents indicated possession of a PC at home. This report shows major differences between urban and rural areas. On average 60% of respondents have some form of Internet connection: 72% of which come from urban and 45% from rural areas. Total Internet penetration rose from 14% in 2005 to over 30% in 2008.

Furthermore, unlike the previous report in 2005 this one analysed the implementation status of the “Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH “, which was adopted by the Council of Ministers of BiH as part of the strategy in 2004 and, as such, it covers five development segments: legal infrastructure, e-Education, e-Governance, ICT infrastructure and the ICT industry. It is important to mention that the area of legal infrastructure did not achieve significant progress due to the relatively small number of adopted laws; however, legal solutions are only the first step toward reform and the implementation of the laws will be even more cumbersome for institutions in BiH. Significant achieved results were illustrated in e-Education, as one of the key pillars in the Action Plan, but implementation of the sector projects only reached around 50% of envisaged tasks. The e-Governance sector is considered to be the most complex, also with an implementation level of around 50%; however, it should be pointed out that BiH still does not have a single government authority tasked with the development and promotion of an information society. In regard to ICT infrastructure development most initiatives came from the dominant and alternative telecom operators, including their inevitably increased level of competition. Unfortunately, the least work was done in the ICT industry sector, where a minimum of work was done in relation to the implementation of the plan.

2 Communications Regulatory Agency of BiH data for 2009

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Finally, this report illustrates the situation regarding the eSEE Agenda and eSEE Agenda Plus sectors.

It finds that the Agendas’ initial goals were largely achieved, as indicated in several reviews and reports from the SEE Ministerial Conference on Information Society Development. The expected impact of eSEE Agenda Plus includes three areas: national development, regional cooperation and EU compliance.

The central goal of those participating in eSEE Agenda Plus, similar to the eSEE Agenda, including mostly those active at the state level, is to boost information society development in their respective countries and to reinforce the existing momentum for regional cooperation. In relation to this sector, the SEE matrices (attached under Annex) are presented and actually serve as a benchmark that shows quantitative and qualitative aspects of the implementation of eSEE Agenda Plus. Unfortunately, it is evident that BiH again lags behind its neighbours in the adoption and implementation of legal solutions within this sector.

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INTRODUCTION The 2009 assessment and analysis report of the e-Readiness situation in BiH appears as the third report following a series of two previous studies on the same subject that were published in 2002 and 2005.

Therefore, its content and methodology have been carried out and organised in such a way as to be compatible and comparable with the previous reports; however, the 2009 report introduces two completely new chapters: “Implementation Status for the Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH” and “Implementation Status for eAgenda and eAgenda Plus”.

The report presents the results of primary research conducted over several months in the e-Government sector across various BiH institutions and private actors: state, entity, cantonal and municipal formal representative bodies; entity and cantonal educational institutions, courts across all levels of government, the telecommunications sector covering both main and the alternative providers, Internet service providers (ISP) and the information and communications technologies (ICT) industry and finally the results of the IT Household Penetration Survey. However, although heavily reliant upon primary research the report also uses secondary data, mostly only for those sectors where primary data was insufficient, such as the telecommunications sector, ISP and the ICT industry.

The main project goal was to offer a comparable, yet sensible, picture of the e-Government sector in BiH: showing results of extreme development and progress in some sectors and specific areas, while also presenting more reserved data or even a lack of data for other sectors. Hence, the report serves as a formal tool to follow the information and “Internetisation” growth curve and progress within BiH society, especially in comparison with its neighbouring countries. According to the “Global Information Technology Report 2008-2009”, conducted by the World Economic Forum for the Network Readiness Index, BiH is ranked 106th out of the 134 ranked countries: with an index of 3.23, which is behind all other European countries.3 In regard to the “Global Competitiveness Report”, also completed by the World Economic Forum, for the period 2009-2010 BiH is ranked 109th out of the 1,393 listed countries.

That report provides a general description of economic competitiveness on the basis of broad criteria ranging from government organisation to infrastructure, stability and disease rates. Unfortunately, the World Economic Forum has not evaluated BiH under the e-Readiness sector. (The aim of this report is to assess the country’s information and communications technologies infrastructure and how that infrastructure benefits the country’s consumers, businesses and governments).

As previously mentioned, special attention has been given to the “Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH” because, to date, no institution has officially evaluated this Action Plan, despite the fact that the Council of Ministers of BiH adopted it six years ago (2004) as part of the “Policy of Information Society Development in BiH” and the “Strategy of Information Society Development in

3 www.weforum.org/pdf/gitr/2009/Rankings.pdf

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BiH�. By identifying and adopting this Action Plan BiH has demonstrated a serious will to design and implement concrete projects that will in turn serve as a precondition for the steady development of an information society as a whole. Intensive research into the level of adoption of legislative processes and the existence and level of activity of identified actors and agencies responsible for the implementation of the Action Plan was carried out as part of this report in order to create presentable results that would be reader-friendly and easy to follow.

Finally, the intention of the authors of this report was not just to target colleagues from the e-Governance field but also to educate the rest of society as to the progress that has been achieved within the e-Governance sector and to disseminate information considered to be highly relevant and important for future development in BiH and its processes along the road to EU integration.

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2. e-READINESS INDICATORS BY SECTOR 2.1. GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS 2.1.1 Institutions at the State, Entity and Cantonal Level Over the last few years government institutions have made significant progress towards incorporating informatisation into their daily work. As captured in the 2005 e-Readiness Report, although a significant number of employees at the state, entity and cantonal level possess and use computers in their daily work a critical mass has not been created in order to spark a change in the way/modality that work is conducted. Ultimately, this means that there was no reengineering of the business process that would have resulted in more efficiency and effectiveness at work. This was mainly fuelled by the fact that there was no interconnectivity of government institutions into a single information space, no unified web presence and no legislation or capacity that would allow for and encourage the development of an information society.

Yet by 2008 the situation had improved significantly. At the state, entity and cantonal level 8,634 employees out of the 9,018 that participated in the analysis reported the use of computers in their daily duties and tasks, which amounts to 95.74% and definitely the creation of a critical mass.

Unfortunately, the research neither shows the quality of the equipment (both hardware and software) nor the sophistication of usage.

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Another parameter that has improved over recent years is the presence of local area networks i.e., connection of personal computers into a network within an institution: 86.46% compared to 70% in 2005. This is very important as it is a basic prerequisite for electronic information exchange in the daily work of government employees. Unfortunately, the research does not show the quality of service of these networks or the functionality that they offer.

On the basis of this analysis we can conclude that the e-Readiness of government institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina is continuously improving and is currently at a satisfactory level. Of course, we cannot expect all government employees to have or indeed need a computer, nor that each institution has succeeded in establishing a local area network; nevertheless, this demonstrates the presence of the basic infrastructure required to continue with the implementation of electronic services aimed at the establishment of an information society. In addition, almost all analysed institutions (with a few rare exceptions) have some form of Internet connection. Out of the 161 institutions interviewed only 4 of them used a dial-up Internet connection, while most of them, 41 (or 25%), utilised an ADSL connection.

Also, 7 institutions were reported to be using ISDN, while all others (109 institutions) reported a combination of the following connection modalities: wireless, WADSL, server-linked, leased line or other.

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Additionally, it is important to note the contribution and impact upon the overall informatisation of government by the “e-Government Programme of the Council of Ministers of BiH” (CoM BiH). The programme is aimed at improving the use of ICT within the public sector as one of the priorities for public administration reform in BiH. The programme’s key dimension is to strengthen the efficiency, transparency, democracy and security of public administration in BiH; this is primarily aimed at the Council of Ministers of BiH, via the introduction and further development of services that rely on the use of information technology. It is comprised of a comprehensive reengineering of business processes, IT infrastructure and communications services, interoperability, security as well as the computerisation of basic registers and the digitalisation of joint and specialised functions of the administration.

This programme is being implemented in phases and to date the first phase has been finalised. With the finalisation of the programme’s first phase over 75% of ministries within the CoM BiH are connected into a single secure information space; this enables the electronic exchange of information and the usage of common communications and collaboration tools. Furthermore, at this stage, all CoM BiH ministries have secured their Internet presence via a web portal, which has a standardised and recognisable visual identity and unified context categories and information. In addition, all communications and information services are accessible to all government employees from a single spot: a personal intranet portal. Having in mind that the personal intranet portal is integrated with other applications within the e-Government platform, this system supports single spot data entry whereas the submitted information will appear within several applications. For example, the CoM BiH e-Sessions system, implemented in order to prepare and conduct sessions of the CoM BiH electronically, is integrated within the personal intranet portal, which enables relevant news from CoM BiH sessions to automatically appear on the intranet or web portal page.

It is important to mention the need for continuous improvement and investment in capacity in order to absorb, utilise and improve ICT services and solutions. Therefore, in order to provide an adequate setting to introduce and use solutions based on e-Government concepts CoM BiH introduced basic organisational and structural changes. This resulted in the creation and approval of legal amendments, at the level of the CoM BiH, that allow for the business process reengineering to take place, which paves the way for e-Government and an information society.

Perhaps the most important aspect for the development of an information society within government institutions throughout BiH is the planned level of investment for the development and usage of information and communications technologies. Through the conducted analysis one can note that in 2007 6,230,245 BAM was invested in hardware, whereas in 2008 this figure decreased to 5,772,931 BAM (including both actual and projected costs). However, when it comes to investment in the software industry the amount almost doubled in 2008: in 2007 institutions reported a total of 2,136,691 BAM, but in 2008 investment had reached 4,002,905 BAM. Interestingly, investment in services rose to 3,102,633 BAM in 2007, yet decreased to 2,510,018 BAM in 2008.

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At this stage it is critical that government institutions, at all levels, continue their investment in ICT and continue to use a common infrastructure in order to enhance communication between themselves as well as with citizens.

2.1.2 Institutions at the Municipal Level Included in the primary research were 114 geographically diverse municipalities selected from within both entities and BrÄ?ko District. According to the results, on average a municipality has 123.5 employees of which 72 (or 58%) work on a personal computer. This cannot be accepted as a satisfactory result in any regard, although municipalities have generally made progress in terms of electronic readiness: the 2005 report showed that 42% of employees in local government had access to computers in their daily work. Regarding the connection of these computers into a single network (LAN) 72% reported LAN connection, which in itself is probably one of the greatest improvements being made in this sector: the 2005 report indicated that only 38% of municipalities had local area networks. A somewhat better situation exists in the FBiH where 82% of computers are connected via LAN. Furthermore, only 86% of employees reported having a personal e-mail address. Although some may consider this number to be high it can only be read as a positive result when compared with the number of personal computers: the number of employees that reported an official e-mail address exceeded the number of computers at work.

The research also covered the number of municipalities that have their own webpage and here we can also see a dramatic improvement over three years. Whereas in 2005 it was reported that 62% of them had webpages the 2009 report shows that 79% of municipalities reported an official webpage.

In regard to connection types most of them, 68% in fact, had an ADSL connection.

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When it came to municipal investment in information and communications technology the research shows that in 2008 BiH municipalities invested on average 61,860 BAM in this sector, while projected investment in ICT for 2009 had reached 76,240 BAM. However, one can best put these figures into perspective when compared with the total municipal budget. The average reported BiH municipal budget for 2008 came to 10,616,375 BAM, while the projected average budget for a BiH municipality in 2009 was only slightly less, amounting to 10,147,707 BAM. Out of the total ICT investment for 2008 a municipality on average invested 30,871 BAM in hardware, 20,714 BAM in software and about 8,000 BAM in services. It is important to mention that both entities invest much less than BrÄ?ko District, where the reported investment can be even up to four times greater than those of the entities.

The research also included questions on the existence of special purpose software for the Register of Births, Register of Marriages, Register of Citizenship, Land Register/Cadastre and the Register for Social Benefits Eligibility. The results showed that 76% of RS and 92% of FBiH municipalities owned such software for the Register of Births (on average 85% of BiH municipalities). Moreover, 74% of RS and 89% of FBiH municipalities owned software for the Register of Marriages (on average 82.5% of BiH municipalities). The research showed the same results for the Register of Citizenship as for the Register of Marriages. In regard to the presence of specialist software for the Land Register/Cadastre only 16% of RS municipalities reported possessing it, whereas in FBiH municipalities the figure was 80%, which gives an average of 52% at the level of BiH. Finally, 18% of RS municipalities owned software for social benefits in comparison with 31% in the FBiH, which is an average of only 26% at the national level.

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2.2. JUDICIARY The analysis of e-Readiness from 2005 did not go into detail as to the situation in the courts and prosecutor’s offices; therefore this report lacks comparable analyses from the previous situation. This is why the authors of this report have used general indicators for government institutions as a reference for progress. In short, it may certainly be said that the judiciary, as one of the three segments of government (executive, legislative and judicial), has accomplished perhaps the best level of success in e-Readiness.

This assessment was made on the basis of data that shows undeniably, in percentage terms, that the judiciary has taken the greatest step forward in terms of the use of ICT and realised projects from within the Strategy.4 It is expected that over forthcoming years the knowledge of employees in relation to the implemented technologies will mature and that citizens will be able to see the results of the efforts of ICT implementation.

In addition to the raw data presented in this report in the field of judiciary, it is also important to mention those projects implemented in order to answer the needs of the judiciary. It is our opinion that these projects were the catalyst for all of the changes that led to the positive results.

Out of a total of 70 judiciary related institutions feedback was received from 49, which represents 70% of the entire target group. All answers were fully completed and this created all the preconditions to establish an appropriate hypothesis and complete a brief analysis of the results.

4 “Policy of Information Society Development in BiH”, “Strategy of Information Society Development in BiH” and the “Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH”

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2.2.1 Infrastructure According to the survey data a total of 93.21% of employees in the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina work on computers. Keeping in mind the nature of the job and the structure of employees it is our opinion that it will not be possible to significantly improve this percentage over the coming years, because it is evident that almost all employees in need of a computer actually have one at their workplace.

On the other hand, one piece of data shows that 100% of the computers in BiH courts are networked and this demonstrates an exceptionally good infrastructure, which enables the courts to use hardware and software to the maximum effect. Furthermore, 98% of the courts surveyed had an e-mail address, which is also exceptional progress when compared with the earlier report where only a modest number of government institutions indicated having an e-mail address. Fortunately, this number should be 100% in the near future. Yet the most important aspect is that e-mail addresses should be standardised: it is clear from the analysis that certain courts still use bih.net.ba, teol.net or gmail.com e-mail addresses. The courts should begin to organise online address books in the near future, including both e-mail addresses and webpages.

Only 59% of the courts surveyed possessed webpages; however, some courts pointed out that their webpage was under construction, which shows an ascending trend within this percentage. Another comment, also related to e-mail addresses, was the lack of a standardised and systematic approach towards naming these webpages: some courts had webpage addresses as a sub-domain of www.pravosudje.ba, while others had created their own domains.

Besides this impressive data, it is important to mention that 98% of the courts surveyed had broadband access to the Internet. In a large number of cases it was via ADSL, while a few courts used wireless or ISDN Internet access.

2.2.2 Financing of Development Looking at project financing trends in more detail it can clearly be seen that more than 60% of the total cost of ICT development is accounted for by hardware. It is evident that investment in hardware has produced excellent results in the field of infrastructure, because the judiciary accounts for an extremely high percentage in almost all segments.

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This trend should continue for many years; however it is evident (and expected) that the courts will invest more in software and training than in hardware. The data from 2008 clearly shows a slight decline in hardware costs and an increase in services and software costs.

Furthermore, in regard to the total ICT budget, the courts received more than 60% of funds via donations through numerous projects implemented by the UNDP, USAID, the EU, GTZ and other donors that have been working on the reform of the judiciary, education and laws and who have contributed to the overall positive image.

2.2.3 Relevant Projects Contributing to the Judicial Reform As previously mentioned, numerous projects, by both local and international organisations, have influenced the positive image of ICT in the judiciary. Some important projects that use ICT worth mentioning, among others, are shown below.

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LAND ADMINISTRATION PROJECT (GTZ) -

http://www.zkk.ba

At the beginning of 2003 the German Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) began a project on the implementation of laws related to land registers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The laws on land registers were adopted in identical form by both BiH entities in 2003. The project makes a great effort, in terms of holding seminars and workshops aimed at the continuous in-service training of land registry clerks.

The purpose is to make them more familiar with the reformed legal framework and to help prepare them to take their professional examination. The project regularly assists the ministries of justice to adapt legal regulations to best practice. Since the beginning of 2006 the project has included a cadastre component in order to promote cooperation between cadastre and land registers, which represents the basis for reliable and secure property rights and for the development of land administration services. This project may have had the largest influence upon ordinary citizens in terms of their perception of legal system authorities and it will probably be the most utilised project.

The webpage was designed within the project and it falls into the advanced (second) category of pages that enable users to search the cadastral database.

LEGISLATION DATABASE PROJECT (UNDP and EU) - http://www.legislativa.ba/ The result of this project was the database located in the premises of the Official Gazette of BiH. This online database contains all legislation at both state and entity level. Citizens have free-of-charge access to the laws of BiH via this database. This webpage allows users to search, browse and access all laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

JUSTICE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT (USAID) - http://www.usaidjsdp.ba The Justice Sector Development Project (JSDP) was a five year USAID initiated project implemented by the East-West Management Institute (EWMI). The JSDP was designed to strengthen capacities within the justice sector in order to maintain and strengthen the rule of law. The primary goal of the JSDP was the provision of institutional support in order to strengthen the independence of the justice sector and enhance justice and the efficient administration of justice throughout BiH. The JSDP was designated specifically to implement reform measures aimed at strengthening the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH and the Ministry of Justice of BiH, which are key institutions that play a crucial role within policy making in the justice sector. In addition, the JSDP worked to improve court administration within courts throughout BiH. The JDSP was completed in 2009. Continued justice sector improvement will be ensured through JDSP II until 2014.

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USAID PROJECT: FILE - http://www.usaid.ba The USAID Project on Fostering an Investor and Lender-Friendly Legal Environment (FILE) introduced a computerised case tracking and management system, thereby accelerating court performance and enabling them to focus on a case rather than its administration. The project assisted in the assignment of unique case numbers that enable the tracking of relevant data and documents in the central database. Within the project, in six pilot courts and later in 11 model courts throughout BiH, more than 90,000 cases were entered into the database.

UNDP PROJECT: BUILDING CAPACITIES OF CANTONAL AND DISTRICT PROSECUTORS’ OFFICES AND COURTS IN BIH TO PROCESS WAR CRIMES CASES - http://www.undp.ba The project focus is on enhancing the capacity of prosecutors and judges working in cantonal and district prosecutors’ offices and courts to deal with war crimes cases. It will reinforce the unique expertise of judges and prosecutors at the Court of BiH and Prosecutors’ Office and assist national training institutions to develop their capacities in the field of war crimes. One of the most challenging tasks intended for pursuit is to construct a witness support network based on the regional distribution of war crimes in BiH. The Witness Support Network, established at the entity level, would respond to the minimum standards set for the protection and support of witnesses as required by law. The project would also facilitate better regional cooperation on war crimes issues that are of common regional interest. All of this will provide for more unified standards and procedures before the courts in BiH for war crimes proceedings and enable legal professionals to investigate, prosecute and try war crimes cases in BiH. The project is supposed to run until 2011.

UNDP PROJECT: SUPPORTING NATIONAL CAPACITIES FOR TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN BIH - http://www.undp.ba The challenge of dealing with the past – known as Transitional Justice – touches upon multiple dimensions of justice and human rights: how to bring war criminals to justice, how to do justice to war victims and survivors and how to reweave a war-torn society and regain trust amongst BiH citizens by pursuing realistic avenues to justice for the generations who will live with the legacy of the past violent conflict. This project is aimed at supporting non-court transitional justice issues: building sustainable peace by raising civil society awareness of the necessity to deal with the past and explore the transitional justice mechanisms that are most appropriate for BiH. The main objective of the project is to empower civil society organisations to assist the Government of BiH in the process of informing civil society about the key role that transitional justice has in the future of BiH.

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2.3. EDUCATION Research in the education sector was carried out by conducting a survey at universities, collecting data on primary and secondary schools from the cantonal and entity ministries of education, as well as through a controlled survey in primary and secondary schools. Out of a total of 6 universities that were contacted 3 (Bihać, Mostar and Zenica) submitted the data, while 14 out of 25 contacted faculties and academies from the University of Sarajevo responded. As for the data on primary and secondary schools, out of the 11 ministries of education that were contacted 5 cantonal ministries and the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republika Srpska submitted the data. In addition, a controlled survey and individual analysis was carried out for 335 primary and secondary schools throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. Overall, this sample may be considered to be representative.

One of the basic indicators of ICT usage within educational institutions is the number of pupils/students per computer. In comparison with data from the 2005 e-Readiness Report a significant improvement can be noticed within schools in terms of the improved pupils/students per computer ratio: from 57 to 26. As expected, the situation in secondary schools is better than that of primary schools: 16 compared to 35.

* Source: steps.eun.org ** Source: http://resources.eun.org/insight/BESA_ICT2009_Summary.pdf

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Despite the significant improvement over the past three years the situation cannot be considered as satisfactory, because 26 pupils/students per computer is double the EU average (as an illustration only, chart 7 shows the same 2009 indicators for the EU and Great Britain).

This indicator improves at the university level (on average 15 students per computer), although this number varies substantially from university to university and from faculty to faculty. Please note: analysis at the faculty level was only done at the University of Sarajevo.

The University of Sarajevo is within average values, while the best situation exists in Zenica. The example of detailed analysis conducted at the University of Sarajevo shows that this indicator may vary substantially from faculty to faculty. However, this analysis should be approached with caution because estimation of whether this indicator satisfies the needs of a faculty also depends substantially on other factors: dominant structure of the teaching process (whether it is “computer intensive�, such as at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, or not) or the manner in which teaching is conducted (regular, specially scheduled, in-class or distance learning).

Here it is important to analyse another important factor separately: the number of professors in ratio to the number of computers. Namely, a certain number of computers from within the total number at a particular faculty are allocated to academic staff and thus the students do not have access to them.

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It is almost a rule that each professor has a computer and this significantly reduces the actual number of computers directly available to students.

If we assume that each academic member of staff has a computer then we obtain a completely different picture. Namely, when the number of academic staff members is deducted from the total number of computers then the number of students per computer increases significantly. Drastic Relative Worsening exists at some faculties, such as the Faculty of Political Sciences, the Faculty of Traffic and Communications and the Faculty of Economics; some faculties even indicated negative values (the Faculty of Medicine), which means that it is not even possible for each academic staff member to have a computer. Therefore there is probably no point in discussing whether the number of computers directly available to students is adequate.

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The actual situation is probably somewhere between these two indicators; however it is more likely that it is closer to the number of computers actually available to students, while excluding the computers used by the academic staff. Such an analysis reveals a completely unsatisfactory situation at most of the faculties, at least at the University of Sarajevo, which was analysed in more detail, while it may be assumed that a similar situation exists at other universities.

What is encouraging from this analysis is the fact that the percentage of schools (primary and secondary) with a computer classroom/lab has increased from 64% in 2005 to 80% of the analysed sample in 2009, as well as the fact that almost all such classrooms are connected to the Internet. Even if a school does not have an appropriate number of computers, in ratio to the number of pupils/students, if it has an Internet-connected computer classroom a high level of pupil/student access to computers and the Internet may be achieved through optimised usage.

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Internet access at universities is almost 100% nowadays and it may be considered as standard, yet the “painful� fact persists that we are the only European country without an academic network.

The percentage of schools with Internet access has increased from 43% in 2005 to 90% in 2009 and by analysing the type of Internet connection in schools we observed the persistent dominance of ISDN and ADSL access, which is positive. Also, the number of teachers certified in the field of IT is growing steadily. In RS, for example, up until the beginning of the school year 2010-2011 all 10,799 professors and teachers will undergo an IT skills training programme.

It may be said that there was visible progress during the period 2005-2009, yet this was more a result of totally individual efforts by institutions and a general improvement in the use of ICT in society as opposed to the result of systematic government action in support of schools and universities.

2.4. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES INDUSTRY 2.4.1 Introduction In recent years a small level of growth, around 5%, has been recorded in the information and communications technologies (ICT) industry and the ICT market in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 2007, according to International Data Corporation (IDC) research 5, the ICT market in BiH was valued at USD 187.38 million, which meant a 10% increase in relation to 2006. However, having in mind the decrease in the value of the Dollar one may say that the value of the ICT market in BiH had stagnated. Of particular concern is the fact that the growth rate trend for the ICT market does not follow the growth rate trend for the total industrial growth of Bosnia and Herzegovina. More detailed analysis of the causes for such a situation in the ICT industry and the ICT market in BiH will follow.

2.4.2 Business Operations of the Information and Communications Technologies Industry The results of research commissioned by the Association for Information Technologies in BiH (BAIT) and carried out by the research company Prism Research 6 in May 2008 covered a survey sample comprised of 95.8% private companies while the remaining 4.2% consisted of companies with another form of ownership structure: mostly companies from the field of communications. Chart 11 presents the results, shown according to the ownership structure, for the whole of BiH.

5 Bosnia and Herzegovina IT Market 2008-2012 Forecast and 2007 Vendor Shares 6 Report on Survey Results for the ICT Industry in BiH 2008

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A trend of increasing foreign investment in BiH and consequently in the ICT industry in BiH has been noticeable over recent years. Foreign investors put money into the ICT industry in BiH in several ways: • • • • •

opening branches (offices) of their already established companies; purchase (acquisition) of local ICT companies in BiH; combination of the above two methods; establishment of strong partnerships through distribution or reseller contracts; establishment of loose partnerships from one business deal to another.

Although foreign capital has entered the ICT industry in BiH a significant increase in the ICT market has not happened, due to insufficient investment in ICT in BiH especially when it comes to government and business entities. Other research, such as that conducted by the IDC 7 and the MIT Centre 8, has proven this fact.

7 Bosnia and Herzegovina IT Market 2008-2012 Forecast and 2007 Vendor Shares 8 Bosnia and Herzegovina Competition Report 2007-2008

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2.4.3 Hardware Entry of foreign capital into the country has led to stronger ICT market competition in BiH. Some local companies were not prepared for this onrush over recent years, as they relied mostly on a policy of low prices and good political connections. Hence some of yesterday’s leaders in the ICT industry in BiH (IT Computers, PC KIDS, MastelBerox and Whitefield) have disappeared from the ICT market over the past several years.

It is gratifying to see that several local companies have survived, in spite of a distributor price war, either by increasing their competitive ability or by changing their operations within the ICT industry: DigiNet. This war of the distributors is slowly subsiding, regardless of the fact that the demand for hardware in BiH has not fallen. Today the leading role in the ICT market in BiH in the field of distribution of ICT equipment and software belongs to those companies whose capital originates from outside of BiH, mostly from Croatia (KimTech and Megatrend) and Serbia (ComTrade).

Chart 11: Structure of the IT market in Bosnia and Herzegovina (USD M) in 20079

Total = USD 187.38 million Source: IDC, 2008.

9 Bosnia and Herzegovina IT Market 2008-2012 Forecast and 2007 Vendor Shares

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2.4.4 Software The ICT industry in BiH offers the market ready-to-use software (Package Software Vendor) and software it develops itself. Offers of the largest vendors of ready-to-use software in BiH are illustrated in chart 13.

When speaking about those ICT companies engaged predominantly in software manufacture it may be asserted that a war between software companies has begun. Most well known ICT distribution companies have either acquired an already established software company or established a new one internally; they then began sharp confrontation with local software companies. Keeping in mind the fact that Oracle (for a long time) and Microsoft have opened their offices in BiH and that Systems Applications and Processes in Data Processing (SAP) is also present, through a partnership network, which additionally complicates market competition in BiH. As mentioned, research for BAIT has shown that in most cases the surveyed companies skipped the stages of analysis and design and began at the stage of software development, while they failed to carry out software testing after the development stage. The managers of these companies justify this manner of operation through their desire to offer the market an as inexpensive product as possible.

Most software companies in BiH, particularly the smaller ones, offer the market inexpensive software that does not meet all user requirements and hence the result is frequent software interventions, even during the implementation stage. This manner of doing business makes the ICT industry uncompetitive to a large extent both in the domestic and in markets outside of BiH. Chart 12: Leading package software vendors in Bosnia and Herzegovina by primary Chart 12: Leading package software vendors in Bosnia and Herzegovina by primary 10 software market 10 (value share) for 2007 software market (value share) for 2007 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Oracle

Lanaco

Microsoft

IBM

SAP

Others

Applications System Infrastructure Software Application Development and Deployment Software

Source: IDC, 2008.

10 Bosnia and Herzegovina IT Market 2008-2012 Forecast and 2007 Vendor Shares

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The extent of the competitiveness of the ICT industry in BiH, or the lack of it, is shown in the answers (research for BAIT) to the question of whether a company has successfully developed a new application or services since 2004. Of all respondents 31.3% stated “Yes”: 32.4% of which pertained to the FBiH and 26.7% to RS. Chart 14 illustrates the answers to this question sorted according to company operations.

Chart successfully 13: Has yourdeveloped company asuccessfully developed a new application Chart 13: Has your company new application 11 (e .g., designed a new application) (e.g., designed a new application) or services since 2004? 11or services since 2004?

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 NO

YES

Other related activities Computer and IT equipment manufacture Software development Sale and service of computers and office equipment

It can be seen that most new applications have been developed by those companies engaged in the development of software (60.9%), followed by companies with other related information technology operations (38.7%), while the least number is accounted for by companies engaged in servicing and the sale of computers and office equipment (16.4%). In answer to the question of whether a company has upgraded already existing applications and or services since 2004, on average, 36.7% respondents stated “Yes”.

Chart 15 presents answers to this question sorted according to a company’s main operations. It can be seen that the most applications have been upgraded by those companies engaged in the development of software (69.6%), followed by companies with other related information technology operations (46.8%). The least number of applications to be upgraded were by companies engaged in servicing and the sale of computers and office equipment (19.2%).

11 Report on Survey Results for the ICT Industry in BiH 2008

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Chart 14: Has your company already existing applications Chart upgraded 14: Has your company upgraded already existing applications (e.g., modified an existing application) or services since 2004? 12or services since 2004? 12 (e .g., modified an existing application) 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 NO

YES

Other related activities Computer and IT equipment manufacture Software development Sale and service of computers and office equipment

2.4.5 Communications The ICT industry in BiH has slowly begun to differentiate and there are more and more companies in the field of communications that have specialised exclusively in this field. This trend has increasingly made competition tougher and led to an increase in the quality of, before all, the services of companies in this field. The arrival of Cisco to the market in BiH has contributed to the strengthening of this major vendor’s partners as leaders in this field in BiH. Some of these companies are engaged in the design and engineering of business networks (LAN, Campus and WAN), whereas others deal mainly with offering Internet access.

The emergence of cable operators that primarily offer cable TV service in the major towns is particularly interesting. In recent years cable operators have utilised their infrastructure to offer an ISP service.

When you add to this the emergence of offers for wireless Internet access it may be said that BiH, at least in the urban areas, does not lag behind more developed countries in regard to the type of offers.

Upcoming TV digitalisation will provide new frequency ranges that will create the technical requirements for offering new types of wireless access.

12 Report on Survey Results for ICT Industry in BiH 2008

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Also, in 2009 the Communications Regulatory Agency issued the first UTMS licenses (for the provision of mobile services via a universal mobile telecommunication system), to the existing mobile operators.

The total number of UMTS subscribers is 65,175.

2.4.6 Internet Service Providers in BiH A separate group in the ICT industry is comprised of companies called Internet service providers or ISP for short. They provide various forms of Internet access, both to individuals and organisations in BiH. The importance of ISP is growing with an increase in the popularity of the Internet, which has become one of the unavoidable forms of the communications infrastructure.

Along with the telecom operators, alternative operators and cable operators the Internet service providers have become an important factor over recent years in all forms of modern technological communications, for both individuals and organisations. Some companies in BiH have multiple roles in terms of offering several forms of communication to their users. For example, BH Telecom made available “Triple Play” service entitled by “My TV” (Telephony, Internet and IP-TV) in 2009.

According to Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA) data, as of 31 December 2009 a total of 77 Internet service providers were operational in Bosnia and Herzegovina, comparing to 55 in 2005. The total percentage of Internet subscribers with broad-band access in 2009 was 71.15%.

Table 2: Number of subscribers by type of internet access in 2009

Type of Internet access

% of subscribers in 2009

Dial-up

26.85

Broadband (ADSL, cable, wireless)

73.15

Statistics show that dial-up (including dial-up and ISDN), which was previously the dominant type of Internet access, has given way to broadband Internet access services, which today represents the most used form of access to the Internet in BiH. Dial-up now makes up 26.85% of the total number of Internet subscribers, which represents a significant decline from 44% in 2008, while broadband access now has a 73.15% share of subscribers. The services of broadband access continue to pave the way for ADSL and cable Internet access, with an evident increase in the FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) approach.

In accordance with the definition set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), according to which an Internet user is any person aged 16-74 using the Internet during the year, the CRA estimates that there were 1,421,540 Internet users in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009.

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Table 3: Number of Internet users 13

It is evident from Table 3 that the estimated number of Internet users in BiH has registered a constant increase over recent years.

Having considered the above data, the Communications Regulatory Agency estimated the rate of Internet usage in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2009 at 37%.

Chart 15: DiagramChart of Internet user penetration in 2009 15: Number of subscriber lines14of the land telephone network in BiH Internet users penetration 40%

37

35%

34

30% 27.25

25%

24.5

20%

20.8

15%

15.1

10% 5% 0%

7 4

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

According to data provided by 55 ISP the total revenue of the ISP market in Bosnia and Herzegovina was 51,623,213 BAM, which represents 0.27 % of total GDP in BiH. 15

13 CRA data for 2009 14 CRA data for 2009 15 Statistics Agency of BiH data for 2006

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When it comes to the major market leaders with an important market share, measured by the number of subscribers, in addition to the three ISP within the dominant telecom operators it belongs to the companies Blic.net, Logosoft and Spinter.net. It is also possible to establish an Internet connection in Bosnia and Herzegovina via leased lines, which is the most frequent form of Internet connection among business entities.

In addition to their Internet access services ISP in Bosnia and Herzegovina offer additional services: hence 87% of the companies provide Webmail services, 69% Web hosting, 63% game servers, 60% FTP servers and 47% forum services.

2.4.7 Conclusion It can be seen from all of the above that the ICT industry in BiH is technologically ready for new challenges, but, aside from a few exceptions, it is still not ready for major steps outside of BiH. There are many reasons for this, one being the ongoing shortage of a quality workforce that is caused by an insufficient annual number of new engineers; a particular problem for BiH is the drain of educated and specialist staff.

The second major problem is that government authorities chronically neglect this young and perspective branch of industry; the ICT industry has proved itself as a generic technology that can largely contribute to an increase in competitive ability.

The third major problem is distrust within the ICT industry. This atmosphere has led to competitor treatment among some companies instead of possible partner treatment. The ICT industry from neighbouring countries may serve as a good example, while the Association for Information Technologies in BiH (BAIT) has for years been making efforts to change this environment and to establish the first ICT cluster in BiH. 2.5. PENETRATION OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS The Communications Regulatory Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina publishes an annual list of telecommunications/ICT indicators 16 that highlights the landline and mobile network telephone infrastructure and usage, as well as the quality of the service provided. Below is a detailed list of indicators divided between landline and mobile network penetration: it shows data from 2006 to 2009 (since the last e-Readiness report was published in 2005).

16 Communications Regulatory Agency, Telecommunications/ICT Indicators for 2005, Telecommunications/ICT Indicators for 2006, Telecommunications/ICT Indicators for 2007 and Telecommunications/ICT Indicators for 2008. CRA data for 2009, 31March, 2009.

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When assessing the progress and development of the telecommunications infrastructure over the past seven years one has to admit that the quality of both landline and mobile networks has progressed dramatically. Nowadays, a person can communicate through a landline or mobile line and access the Internet (dial-up and xDSL for landline networks, GPRS and WLAN for mobile networks) in almost all major towns in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

2.5.1 Land Telephone Lines In accordance with the licenses granted by the Communications Regulatory Agency, there are three landline telephony public operators operating in the territory of both entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Two of them, BH Telecom and HT Mostar, operate in the Federation of BiH, while Telekom Srpske operates in Republika Srpska. As shown in chart 17, there was an increase in the total number of operative land telephone lines from 2001 to 2009, while the total number of land telephone lines represents the sum of analogue and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) lines.

The main characteristics of the telecommunications networks in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2008 and 2009 are shown in Table 4. This table presents various indicators and shows a slight level of progress in indicated segments. It is important to point out that this slight level of progress is a good indicator of constant progress within the telecommunications market in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the same indicators for the EU Member States are much higher.

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As an example, the achieved penetration rate of 24.66 for landline telephony in BiH is much lower when compared to the average penetration rate in the EU-25, which at that time amounted to around 45%.

The liberalisation of the telecommunications market in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007 resulted in the emergence of new and alternative landline telephone network operators: a total of nine license holder operators for the provision of public landline telephone services up until 31 December 2009.

Alternative operators in Bosnia and Herzegovina exist in both entities with seven operators in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and six in Republika Srpska. It is also important to mention that the emergence of these new alternative operators increased market competition for telecommunications services, which up until then had been monopolised by the dominant operators, which recorded a decreasing trend of fixed telephone lines during the period 2007-2009.

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The number of public telephone boxes also decreased during the period 2006-2009.

Chart 18: Public telephone boxes Number of public telephone boxes per 1000 inhabitants 1.00 0.80

0.78

0.79

0.87

0.85

0.87

0.79 0.73

0.60

0.67

0.40 0.20 0.00 2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2.5.2 Mobile Telephone Lines Market development and the progress of mobile telephony in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been faster and more active than that of the landline telephony market. After the Communications Regulatory Agency granted GSM licenses to the operators BH Telecom, Telekom Srpske and HT Mostar for the provision of services throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina competition within the market has been constantly on the increase.

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One rather important indicator of development and competitiveness in the mobile market is the fact that the total number of the mobile telephony subscribers exceeds three quarters of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as shown in chart 21.

Assuming that the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina is 3,842,566,17 then it may be seen, as shown in chart 22, that the penetration level (number of mobile subscribers per 100 inhabitants) for mobile telephony in BiH was 83.08% with a growth index of 100.4 at the end of 2009.

Chart 20: Mobile telephony penetration in BiH 2004-2009 90.00% 80.00% 70.00% 60.00% 50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00%

83.08% 76.41% 63.76%

36.62%

2004

41.48%

2005

48.77%

2006

2007

2008

2009

Due to the global development of mobile technology and continued strong market competition there is greater development of mobile telephony than landline telephony in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The main characteristics of the mobile telephone network in Bosnia and Herzegovina are shown in table 5.

17 Estimate by the Statistics Agency of BiH in June 2009

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Table 5: Main characteristics of the mobile telephone network in BiH

Mobile telephone network

2008

2009

Difference

1

Total mobile telephone subscribers

2.958.130

3.192.064

233.934

2

Number of pre-paid subscribers

2.634.904

2.819.714

184.810

3

Percentage coverage of mobile network - population coverage

by GSM network

99%

99%

-

4

Numbers of outgoing mobile minutes within the same network

1.225.284.599

1.452.263.885

226.979.286

5

Number of sent SMS

1.857.684.432

2.038.659.771

180.975.339

6

Number of sent MMS

4.722.347

8.720.056

997.709

When it comes to landline and mobile communications, the information presented above evidently shows a continuing trend and enormous growth in the number of mobile network subscribers in relation to landline network subscribers. This is a characteristic for the whole of the European telecommunications network market.

The percentage of coverage of the mobile network area by land is on average 87% and 99% by population.

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Chart 21: Percentage coverage of mobile network area 100% 95% 90% 85% 80% 75% % Coverage of Mobile Network Area by Land

BH Telecom

% Coverage of Mobile Network Area by Population

Telekom Srpske

HT Eronet

“For a country to put ICT to effective use it must be ‘e-Ready’ in terms of infrastructure, the accessibility of ICT to the population at large and the effect of the legal and regulatory framework on ICT use”. 18 In this sense, it is evident that the recent changes in trends related to connections and infrastructure include an increase in the number of landlines and mobile lines, which is a result of the liberalisation of the telecommunications market and the emergence of alternative operators. In addition, a growth in telecommunications services has resulted from increased competition among service providers, which has further affected progress within the telecommunications market and the introduction of new and less expensive services.

On the other hand, besides all of the positive indicators in the telecommunications services market, it is evident that the speed of development in this sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been slow in relation to the neighbouring countries and the EU. This is a direct consequence of the political environment and interference based on political interest in the operation and development of this precious market in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

18 bridges.org, http://www.bridges.org/e_readiness_assessment

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2.6. HOUSEHOLDS The survey provided for this sector was conducted by the independent company Prism Research, in cooperation with the UNDP. The questions were formed in such a way as to determine IT penetration into BiH households and to make an educated guess as to the percentage of residents that have access to information and communications technologies. The survey encompassed the whole of BiH and its conclusions were based on an ethnically and geographically (including rural/urban criterion) diverse areas, including sensitivity to gender, age and employment status. A total sample of 1,000 respondents was taken into account.

Of all those questioned on average 51% of respondents owned a computer at home. According to the research on e-Government for 2005 only 19.5% of respondents (a sample of 1,000 respondents was also used in this case) reported possession of a computer. So, in three years the number of computers in BiH households has more than doubled. The results for 2008 show no major differences between the entities, while some differences were noticed when taking into consideration the type of neighbourhood (rural/urban): 65% of respondents from urban areas answered affirmatively to the question of computer possession, whereas 40% gave the same answer in rural areas. It is interesting to note that on average 2.4 persons use one computer in a household. In chart 24 it is evident that the higher the educational level the more computers there are in households.

Chart 22: Percentage of persons who own a PC, acording to their educational level 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% No education

Secondary school

PC at home

University

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When asked about connection to the Internet it was reported that 60% of persons had some kind of Internet connection (72% of them from urban areas and 45% from rural areas). According to the 2005 report Internet penetration in BiH was 14% (16% for the FBiH and 9% for RS). Therefore, Internet penetration among those who have a PC at home rose dramatically over three years to 60% in 2008.

Furthermore, 71% of those persons with an Internet connection were employed, while 51% of those who were unemployed also reported having Internet access. On average 2.4 persons per household use the Internet at home. Most of them, 46%, have an ADSL connection. Moreover, 77% of respondents were satisfied with their Internet connection.

Chart 23: Internet penetration 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 2005

Internes access

2008

RS

FBiH

Regarding the research on the number of household members that use a computer from another location, such as at work, school, Internet club, etc., the results show that on average less than one person per household, or precisely 0.8%, uses a PC from another location. In addition, less than one person per household, or precisely 0.7%, also reported using an e-mail. As a comparison, the 2005 report showed that 12% of people had personal e-mail addresses, which means that the number of people with a personal e-mail address has dropped.

This analysis shows that Internet access in BiH is quite high and that most households have some form of Internet connection. Data from the Communications Regulatory Agency confirms this and indicates the number of registered connections in BiH to be 336,000.

If leased lines and wireless connections, used mostly by legal persons, are excluded from this total then we come to a figure of around 300,000 connections, which are most probably used by BiH households and amounts to exactly one-third of the total number of BiH households.

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Finally, the CRA estimated Internet user penetration at 37% in 2009.

19 Chart 24: Diagram Chart of Internet users penetration inusers 2009 penetration 24: Diagram of Internet in 2009 19

Internet users penetration 40%

37

35%

34

30% 27.25

25%

24.5

20%

20.8

15%

15.1

10% 5% 0%

7 4

2002

19 CRA data for 2009

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

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3. IMPLEMENTATION STATUS FOR THE “ACTION PLAN OF INFORMATION SOCIETY DEVELOPMENT IN BiH” In November 2004, during its 69th session, the Council of Ministers of BiH adopted a Policy, Strategy and Action Plan for Information Society Development in BiH. These three documents contained the main guidelines and principles, strategy and mechanisms, defined priorities and activities for the sustainable and continuous development of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a society based on knowledge and the intensive use of information and communications technologies.

The “Policy of Information Society Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina” presented a framework document on the basis of which laws, regulations and other bylaws were passed for the process of developing and building an information society. Decisions were also made on development directions, action plans and priorities at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as its entities. The policy defined and created the preconditions for the preparation of the development strategy for information society. The “Strategy of Information Society Development in BiH” focused on five development pillars: • • • • •

legal infrastructure; e-Education; e-Governance; ICT infrastructure; ICT industry.

However, to prevent the Strategy from remaining just one of BiH’s strategic documents an appropriate “Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH” was prepared. The Action Plan constituted a platform upon which the Strategy was to be implemented. In its content the Action Plan defined programmes, projects and initiatives considered to be of such importance for the development of an information society that the direct support of the Council of Ministers and entity governments was proposed for them.

When it comes to development activities, particularly those that directly foster the comprehensive development of an information society, it is necessary that each activity, with its varying level of complexity, be specified through an outline terms of reference. This was done and therefore the Action Plan chapters also contained the following: •

strategic multidisciplinary programmes established at the state level and essential for the development of an information society;

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•

development programmes established to strengthen and develop certain ICT segments (education, infrastructure, etc);

•

development projects directed at the realisation of specific goals or products, but of wider importance for the informatisation of society (e.g., the establishment of an electronic ID card, digitalisation of the media and the like);

•

pilot projects directed at the implementation of concrete and specific solutions, but designed to accept some solutions through evolutionary development (e.g., the experimental introduction of electronically supported education, etc).

All activities in the Action Plan have defined timeframes and are prioritised in relation to each other.

Additionally, leaders and participants in activities were defined in proposals through terms of references.

Regardless of the fact that government authorities are often the leaders of these activities, the Action Plan is not limited to the set of activities to be implemented by government authorities, thus fostering the development of an information society. It should be looked at as a plan containing activities through which an information society in BiH is being developed by all social actors ranging from government, the public sector, private companies, donors, non-governmental organisations as well as down to each individual.

At the moment of its development the Action Plan pertained to the period 2004-2010.

Analysis of the implementation of the Action Plan and the “Strategy of Information Society Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina” was carried out according to the method of secondary analysis: an overview of previously published sectoral analyses and through discussions held with some of the key stakeholders involved in the implementation of the whole Strategy. No detailed field analysis of individual activities defined under the Action Plan has been carried out for the purpose of this report.

3.1 Legal Infrastructure The legal infrastructure represents the first section of the Action Plan for the realisation of the “Strategy of Information Society Development in Bosnia and Herzegovina”. It is divided in three groups of activities, as follows: • • •

legislation for e-Business; legislation for e-Education and e-Governance; legislation for the ICT infrastructure and the ICT industry.

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The following priorities were defined within the first activity: • • • •

• • •

Law on Electronic Business of BiH; Law on Electronic Signature of BiH; Law on the Certification Authority of BiH; regulation of measures and procedures for the use and protection of electronic signature and advanced electronic signature, means of creating electronic signature and advanced electronic signature and a certification system and mandatory insurance for service providers issuing qualified certificates; regulation of technical rules and conditions for connecting systems for certifying electronic signatures; regulation of the registration of service providers issuing qualified certificates for electronic signature certification; regulation of records kept by service providers certifying electronic signatures.

The Law on Electronic Signature was adopted in 2006; however, the bylaws were not, which is why the Law was unenforceable in practice. Also, the third law, above, will not come into effect as a separate law, but rather it will be drawn up in the form of regulations.

The next group of priorities pertain to legislation for e-Education and e-Governance and contain the following priorities: • • • • • • • • • • • •

Law on Higher Education; Law on Scientific and Research Activities; Law on Textbooks; Law on Technical and Vocational Secondary Schools; Law on Permanent Education; Amendments to customs and tax related legislation concerning procurement of equipment and software by educational institutions, in terms of fostering procurement; Law on Preschool, Primary and General Secondary Education; Law on Copyright; regulation on public procurement; Law on State Registers (registers may be divided into civil, security and economy); Law on Personal Data Protection; Law on Central Records and Data Exchange.

Unlike the previous group of priorities the situation in this one is much worse. Among the prepared legal solutions at the state level the Framework Law on Higher Education, the Law on Copyright, the

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Law on Personal Data Protection, the Law on Central Records and Data Exchange, the Framework Law on Preschool Upbringing and Education as well the Framework Law on Vocational Education and Training can be singled out. On the other hand, the other Laws mentioned in the field of legislation for e-Education and e-Governance has not been implemented and their status at the time of analysis was unknown. It is also important to mention that some of these Laws exist at the entity and canton level, yet there is a question of their harmonisation and overall effectiveness as there are no laws in this field at the state level.

The third group of priorities within the field of legal infrastructure for the development of an information society, defined within the Action Plan, consists of legislation for the ICT infrastructure and the ICT industry. The following priorities were determined within this group: • • • • • • •

Law Establishing the Institute for Standards, Metrology and Intellectual Property of BiH (Official Gazette of BiH, No. 19/01); Law on the Standardisation of BiH (Official Gazette of BiH, No. 19/01); Law on Telecommunications (Official Gazette of BiH, No. 10/99); Law on Freedom of Access to Information in BiH (Official Gazette of BiH, No. 28/00); Law on Copyright and Related Rights in BiH (Official Gazette of BiH, No. 7/02); Law on Industrial Property in BiH (Official Gazette of BiH, No. 3/02); Law on Consumer Protection in BiH (Official Gazette of BiH, No. 17/02).

All of the above Laws existed at the time when the Action Plan was adopted and so the need to make changes and or supplements was defined within this activity in order to make them more adaptable to the ICT sector and the ICT industry in BiH. During the analysis, for the purposes of this report, it was not determined whether there were any activities regarding legal harmonisation aimed at fostering ICT industry development in BiH. Author’s comments Having in mind the complexity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the fact that agreements at the state level regarding jurisdiction in relation to the lower levels of government are still ongoing, it is not surprising that not much has been done at the state level within the field of legal infrastructure for the development of an information society. Among the 26 defined laws and regulations there is a relatively small number of new laws and most of them have been drawn up. The worst situation lies in the field of education where, except for a few umbrella solutions, there has been no major step forward. The situation is at its best in the field of e-Business legislation, but here it is important to point out that legal solutions only represent the first step and that their implementation will certainly pose a major challenge for all relevant institutions.

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3.2 e-Education The next section of programmes and projects within the Action Plan is e-Education, which is divided in three types of interventions. In the first place, there are the following programmes: • • • • • • • • •

establishment of the ICT education system and the certification of citizens by means of posteducation and lifelong learning; inclusion of certified education and examination centres into the official (public and private) system of ICT education (secondary schools and faculties); referential centre (knowledge navigation centre) for information society; system for ICT education and certification of Information Science teachers in primary and secondary schools; register of scientific and research activities in BiH; availability of aggregate bibliographic databases to education and the library systems in Bosnia and Herzegovina; BIS/OPAC cooperative system for the catalogisation of library resources; obtaining, maintaining and use of national ECDL license; digitalisation of movable cultural and historical heritage.

The analysis conducted within the development of this report determined a relatively good situation in regard to programmes in the field of e-Education. Amongst all of the above programmes only two have not been implemented: (1) Establishment of an ICT Education System and Certification of Citizens through the Form of Post-education and Lifelong Learning and (2) the Referential Centre (knowledge navigation centre on information society). The only reason for the failure to implement them that could be identified was the non-establishment of a BiH Agency for Information Society, which under the Action Plan is directly designated as the main body responsible for the implementation of these programmes. All other programmes were successfully implemented or their implementation is actively under way.

The next subgroup consists of the following concrete projects: • • • • • •

development of the fundamentals of the IT study curriculum in accordance with EU trends; launch of an internationally recognised and indexed scientific ICT magazine; revitalisation of BIHARNET into a sustainable research and academic network; connection of all educational and research institutions to the Internet; enhancement and harmonisation of computer capacities in teaching, scientific and research institutions; standardisation of ICT capacities in educational and research institutions;

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• • • • • • •

development of electronic support to learning (eLearning) in BiH universities; preparation of a single development platform for EMIS (Education Management Information System) in primary and secondary schools; design and implementation of a standard solution of EMIS for primary and secondary schools; preparation of a single development platform for university EMIS; design and implementation of standard university EMIS; design of a database and applicative software for external evaluation of knowledge in primary and secondary schools; standardisation of IT programmes for vocational secondary schools and elective classes of Information Science in general type secondary schools (gymnasiums).

Analysis of the projects reveals a rather mixed situation. However, it is important to emphasise that the defined projects pertain to all educational institutions in BiH and it is clear that there are various situations and achievements in the field of results. Some universities and institutions have implemented a range of solutions and systems proposed under the Action Plan, whereas others have not done much in regard to IT-based modernisation of the educational process. Therefore our analysis will be affirmative and it will point out the results of those institutions that have already done something, with a view to encouraging others to follow the same path.

Through an analysis of the above projects it is possible to note that most realised projects were carried out as an individual initiative by certain institutions, without serious intervention, programmes or support from the institutions responsible for the development of this segment of an information society in BiH. Among the projects that have either been realised or are in progress the following may be singled out: • • • • • • •

Design of Curricula Fundamentals for the IT Study Curriculum in Accordance with EU Trends; Connection of all Teaching and Research Institutions to the Internet; Enhancement and Harmonisation of Computer Capacities in Educational, Science and Research Institutions; Development of Electronic Support to Learning (eLearning) in BiH Universities; Preparation of a Single Development Platform for EMIS in Primary and Secondary Schools; Design and Implementation of a Standard University EMIS; Standardisation of the IT Curriculum for Vocational Secondary Schools and Elective Classes of Information Science in General Type Secondary Schools (Gymnasiums).

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Our analysis also showed that nothing had been done practically to implement the following projects: • • • • • •

Launch of an Internationally Recognised and Indexed Scientific Magazine in the Field of ICT; Revitalisation of BIHARNET into a Sustainable Research Educational Network; Standardisation of ICT Capacities in Educational and Research Institutions; Design and Implementation of a Standard Solution of EMIS for Primary and Secondary Schools; Preparation of a Single Development Platform for University EMIS; Creation of a Database and Applicative Software for External Assessment of Knowledge in Primary and Secondary Schools.

Finally, what may be necessary to emphasise in particular is that there are still no indications that Bosnia and Herzegovina will have a single academic and research network; we are the only country in the region to be neither a member nor part of the single European Academic Network.

The third group of activities within e-Education consists of general type initiatives and only two were separately defined within it: • •

promotion of open source (OS) standard operating systems and applications in educational and other public institutions; popularisation of ICT usage within education.

Both of the above initiatives have produced certain results over the past period, although it must be asserted that these were mostly individual attempts and rather informal actions. Both initiatives were done practically without any institutional support and with very limited results.

Author’s comments When it comes to the implementation of the Action Plan within the education sector the situation is relatively good, even taking into account the traditional lack of resources. Among the defined programmes almost all have been either realised or are in progress, so this part of the Action Plan may certainly be proclaimed as having been successfully completed. As for the planned projects the situation is somewhat worse, with only around 50% of planned projects having been realised. It is important here, again, to point out that our analysis focused on universities, faculties and institutions that were implementing the solutions and systems proposed under the Action Plan and that there are many institutions that have not done much in regard to IT-based modernisation of the education process.

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Nevertheless, it should be noted that most of the realised activities were carried out as individual initiatives by certain institutions, and even individuals, without any significant systematic leadership, planning or support from those institutions in charge of the development of this segment an information society in BiH. This is probably a consequence of the general problem of coordination within the education sector in BiH. What should certainly be emphasised is the shocking fact that the revitalisation of BIHARNET into a sustainable educational-research network has not been completed. Thus, Bosnia and Herzegovina is the only country in Europe, and one among the few around the world, that does not have a single academic educational research network.

3.3 e-Governance The following area of the Action Plan represents the section with the greatest number of defined projects and initiatives and is certainly one of the areas where IT-based interventions are particularly required. Here it is important to assert that the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Government of RS have achieved the greatest level of success in initiatives aimed at various levels of government authorities. The level of implementation for various Action Plan projects in municipalities is either directly linked to the size of a particular municipality (larger and richer municipalities began earlier with implementation of various IT solutions) or to the presence and operation of international organisations and projects: such as UNDP, USAID, DFID and others.

The programme of e-Governance within the “Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH” defined the following projects and initiatives: • • • • • • • • •

ensuring a legislative framework for the development of e-Governance; reconstruction of the administration; promoting the introduction of e-Governance; establishment of bodies/services in charge of informatisation, strategy implementation and identification of persons responsible for informatisation within public authorities; establishment of an e-Governance development forum; establishment of an Association of e-Municipalities; analysis of the potential and recommendations for the application of open-source software; development and definition of a methodology for the development of applications and systems within public administration; development of a methodology for management of information and communications systems within public administration;

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

identification, systematisation and the setting of standards required for the development of an information society in Bosnia and Herzegovina; staff in-house training and education; establishment of a communications infrastructure project in the public sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina; implementation of the communications infrastructure project in the public sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina; definition of the concept and standards for information technology interoperability in the public sector; implementation of a pilot-project for verification and operationalisation of the interoperability concept; establishment of the IT Interoperability Forum; creation of an SMS Gateway; establishment of an Information exchange server / National Gateway server; management of electronic records; create procedures and conditions for access to and the use of data from fundamental registers; personal and vehicle documentation online; change of main residence online; create a register of temporary residence licenses for foreigners, visas and records of entry into and exit from BiH; harmonisation and connection/integration of incomplete records; tax system; tax system online; customs declaration online; security strategy for organisational units of the administration; definition and development of a single system for authentication and authorisation; Project to Introduce Public Key Infrastructure (PKI); pilot project for PKI implementation; identification of common administrative functions; e-mail service within public administration; establish a project for the implementation of EDMS (Electronic Document Management System) and Workflow systems; e-Procurement within the Public Administration Project; e-Procurement within the Public Administration Pilot Project; implementation of e-Procurement within public administration; Project for the Definition of Statistical Parameters and Indicators for the Development of e-Governance, Collection and Monitoring;

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

automated (online) submission of data to statistics institutions; monitoring of e-Governance development; citizens database for municipal registry offices (births, marriages, deaths, and records of citizenship); create a citizens database for municipal registry offices (births, marriages, deaths, and records of citizenship) online; establish a land and real estate cadastre; land and real estate cadastre online; establish an information system for personal and legal affairs; applications for construction permits; applications for construction permits online; job seeking; social benefits; social contributions of the employed; licenses related to the environment; information system for inspection affairs; establish a register of legal persons; establish a register of domestic animals; e-Participation; establish a project for generic eServices; make all municipalities available through the Internet; create a State portal.

A little less than 50% of the above projects and initiatives had been realised or were in progress at the time when this report was written. Also, a great number of local initiatives were being realised in some BiH municipalities; therefore it should certainly be taken into account that over the subsequent period similar programmes will be replicated in the less developed municipalities of BiH. The following list provides an overview of those activities that have either been realised or are in progress: • • • • •

ensuring a legislative framework for the development of e-Governance; reconstruction of the administration (via Public Administration Reform Coordinator Offices: PARCO); promotion of the introduction of e-Governance (through PARCO); establishment of bodies/services responsible for informatisation, strategy implementation and the identification of persons responsible for informatisation within public authorities; development and definition of a methodology for the development of applications and systems within public administration;

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• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

staff in-house training and education; Communications Infrastructure Project, within the public sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina; implementation of a communications infrastructure project in the public sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina; register of temporary residence licenses for foreigners, visas and records of entry into and exit from BiH; the Tax system; the Tax system online; customs declaration online; security strategy for organisational units of administration; establishment of an e-mail service within public administration; implement a project for and implementation of EDMS and Workflow Systems; e-Procurement within the Public Administration Project; e-Procurement within the Public Administration Pilot Project; implementation of e-Procurement within public administration; monitoring of e-Governance development (through PARCO); creation of a citizens database for municipal registry offices (births, marriages, deaths and records of citizenship); establishment of a citizens database for municipal registry offices (births, marriages, deaths and records of citizenship) online; establishment of a land and real estate cadastre; establishment of an information system for personal and legal affairs; job seeking; creation of a register of legal persons; creation of a register of domestic animals; creation of a State portal.

According to analysis conducted for the purposes of this report, little or nothing has been done in relation to the implementation of the remainder of the projects defined under the e-Governance section of the “Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH”.

Author’s comments The area of e-Governance is designated as the most complex within the “Strategy of Information Society Development in BiH”. However, the level of implementation of the envisaged programmes, only 50%, should be viewed as “the glass being half full”, because one should be aware of the reality and complexity of BiH

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government authorities at all levels. Naturally, this does not mean that accountability should be avoided, as there is simply no excuse for the failure to implement a large number of the priorities. The major reason for this can be attributed to the non-establishment or non-existence of a national agency for information society. Recently, the Law on the Agency for Information Society of BiH was suspended under parliamentary procedure, for the second time: this time in the House of the Peoples. It remains uncertain as to when Bosnia and Herzegovina will have a single body for the development and promotion of an information society.

It is not necessary to mention that this has been an obligation of the Council of Ministers since 2002, when Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the regional programme “eAgenda for South East Europe”. BiH is the only country in the whole of Europe without either a national agency or a particular ministry that is tasked with the development of an information society and the promotion of ICT usage in society. Naturally, this lack of coordination by the State has not only led to a lower level of implementation in this part of the plan but also within the entire Action Plan. Ultimately this has led to technically worse, more expensive and often completely uncoordinated IT-based activities throughout BiH. The consequence of all of this has been the frequent waste of scarce funds and the unnecessary duplication of activities.

Finally, it is important to mention that the analysis, for the purposes of this report, paid due attention to the municipalities. The established situation was as expected with regard to the richer municipalities having more options and thereby achieving success in addressing and implementing various IT-based solutions.

Those municipalities with more limited budgets did very little, often due to objective reasons. Here it is important to mention that several strong USAID and UNDP projects have been working intensively to change this situation, but it is largely a “Sisyphus job” without an agency for information society and coordination at the state level.

3.4 Information and Communications Technologies Infrastructure The next area of the Action Plan is the section with the greatest number of completed projects and initiatives. Although this area required perhaps the largest financial investment it is a fact that most of the listed programmes are of a business or semi-business nature. The implementation of this section in the Action Plan is almost 100%. Within the section on ICT infrastructure of the “Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH” the following priority projects were defined: • • • •

National ICT-highway; IP-telephony; DTM network pilot project to introduce new network technologies - DTM for Integrated Service Networks; VPN network project to Introduce VPN Services;

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• • • • •

migration from 2G to 2.5 MK - Evolution from 2G to 3G Mobile Communications Systems; broadband access networks: xDSL, HFC, PLC and broadband access; Ethernet WAN pilot project to Design a MAN Network with Ethernet Access to the Core Network; W LAN pilot project to Design W LAN; design of portal.

The only non-implemented project was the design of a telecom operators’ portal, but it is our opinion that this project is largely outdated and therefore this activity may be considered as obsolete.

Author’s comments Throughout the “Strategy of Information Society Development in BiH” the ICT infrastructure is designated as an area of strategic interest in relation to the development of the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thus infrastructure projects may certainly be development generators for the entire ICT industry. Clearly, the largest part of the above initiatives was and remains within the domain of the dominant and alternative telecom operators; therefore their further development is the result of market demand and an inevitable growth in competition.

However, it is important to point out that the first of the listed projects that can be considered as having been completed (because the national ICT highway exists) certainly cannot be considered as “successfully and fully completed”. The reason for this is the fact that the implemented national ICT network was developed under the auspices of the BiH Agency for Identification of Documents, Records and Data Exchange (formerly the Directorate for CIPS Project Implementation) and does not perform the function of a comprehensive national network for Bosnia and Herzegovina, as was envisaged in the Action Plan. Due to a series of reasons, both objective and political in nature, this network has a limited and selective access policy largely focused on the sector of public security. Although the existing network’s capacities can serve the current needs of the public sector in BiH the fact is that this network remains inaccessible to most BiH institutions, in particular those systems and services orientated towards the internal efficiency of government authorities and towards citizens. Unless the access policy is changed it is clear that a new ICT highway needs to be established for Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is certainly an unreasonable investment and inappropriate use of budget funds bearing in mind the current circumstances and the existing lack of financial resources.

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3.5 Information and Communications Technologies Industry The last area of the Action Plan is the ICT industry, where two groups of activities can be observed. The first group consists of general type activities that include mainly legal and stimulative measures, while the other group generally pertains to concrete projects aimed at the development of the ICT industry in BiH. General type activities include: • • • • •

stimulative customs and tax measures; stimulative measures for early demand and supply in the domestic market; creation of a credit insurance agency for stimulation of the ICT industry; use of statistical instruments for monitoring the ICT industry; e-Legislation.

Specific programme activities/projects relate to the following: • • • • • •

Technological Park in the Field of ICT; Incubation Centres in the Field of ICT; “Telecom Cluster” ICT Services; “Electric Companies Cluster” ICT Services; Cluster Production of ICT Hardware; Cluster Production of ICT Software.

Looking at the first group of measures and activities, it is devastating to see that there has only been limited progress in the last activity: e-Legislation. This was done mainly through the Ministry of Communications and Transport of BiH and the Government of RS. As for all other steps and activities, some of which would be extremely simple to implement and have a substantial positive influence, such as stimulative customs and tax measures, stimulative measures for early demand and supply in the domestic market, nothing has been done practically, regardless of a series of very successful examples in the region.

The second group is comprised of just six activities and their individual importance would certainly have a strong influence over the level of development of the entire ICT industry in BiH. Out of the above activities only one has been completed and it pertains to the “Incubation Centres in the Field of ICT”: these centres exist in Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Tuzla. None of the other activities have been completed.

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Author’s comments In spite of the fact that these activities are directly linked to job creation and the overall development of Bosnia and Herzegovina, regretfully, it is possible to assert that a minimum has been achieved in regard to the implementation of measures and activities defined within this section of the “Action Plan of Information Society Development in BiH�. It is devastating to discover that the only completed activities defined within the ICT industry section are those that pertain to e-Legislation and the establishment of Incubation Centres in the Field of ICT. Whereas activities such as stimulative customs and tax measures, stimulative measures for early demand and supply in the domestic market, establishment of a technological park, telecom clusters and similar have not been completed and very little has been done concerning their implementation.

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4. IMPLEMENTATION STATUS OF eSEE AGENDA AND eSEE AGENDA PLUS 4.1 Background and Situation Overview Modern technology offers a tremendous capacity for unleashing the potential of the countries of South Eastern Europe (SEE) and to help increase their economic growth and foster their integration into the world market. This section is set forth to analyse the policy impact of the “eSEE Agenda for the Development of the Information Society” (eSEE Agenda) 20 as a regional action plan for the development of an information society within the region of SEE: implemented from 2002 to 2007 and including policy impact.

This regional ICT success story 21 is the result of a joint regional inter-governmental platform provided by the electronic-SEE Initiative 22 of the Stability Pact for SEE, through the support of UNDP and in close cooperation with the Directorate General for Information Society and Media of the European Commission. Based on the premise that information and communications Technologies (ICT) are central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been the key supporting organisation for the eSEE Initiative since 2002, which is when the UNDP office in Bosnia and Herzegovina became host to the eSEE Secretariat: a regional knowledge hub and an expert and information resource centre that acts as an executive arm of the eSEE Initiative.

A close partnership has been built with the Headquarters of the European Commission in light of the work of the eSEE Initiative on aligning national ICT actions with the Lisbon Agenda and adjacent action plans for IS development 23 as well as the implementation of requirements pertinent to the EU accession agenda for the SEE region. Therefore, eSEE Initiative counterparts enjoy strong support from the EC via their in-kind provision of expertise, technical assistance and political support. While first generation activities of the eSEE Agenda primarily called for the formulation of ICT strategies and their corresponding e-Legislation, second generation activities, articulated under eSEE Agenda Plus, call for more elaborate action, such as the formulation of an e-Governance strategic framework and implementation of the basic set of agreed eServices, 24 with the aim of strengthening democratic governance.

As several reviews and reports from the recent SEE Ministerial Conference on Information Society Development (ISD) 25 have indicated, the Agenda’s initial aims have been attained in good measure.

Development of an enabling framework is under way, new ICT infrastructure is being introduced within government departments and public institutions and a very wide range of eServices, for both the public and business, are either already operational or close to becoming so. Recognition of this fact by

20 http://www.eseeinitiative.org/ 21 eSEE Initiative was proclaimed by the Stability Pact as “one of best practices in regional cooperation in Stability Pact Practice”, http://www.stabilitypact.org/e-see/default.asp 22 The main aim of the eSEE Initiative is to better integrate SEE countries into the global, knowledge-based economy by means of regionally supporting eGovernance processes and the development of an information society at large.

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the members of the eSEE Initiative has led to an extension of the initiative through agreement on the second phase: “eSEE Agenda Plus for the Development of the Information Society in SEE 2007-2012”, which was signed in Sarajevo on 29 October 2007 during the SEE ministerial conference on ISD. This section will also look at the current trends and perspectives, as articulated in the second generation of Initiative activities and the “Action Plan of the Taskforce for Broadband”, and their implications for ISD in SEE. As the political and economic map of the European Union is being redrawn through enlargement the countries of the Western Balkans risk being left on the margins of a new and integrated Europe, thus becoming an economically peripheral region.

The eSEE 26 Initiative expresses the strategic effort of the Western Balkans to jointly employ information and communications technologies (ICT) as a vehicle for economic growth, increased employment, EU integration and the long-term stability of the region, thus preventing the risk of an uncoordinated and incoherent approach to ICT. The eSEE Initiative represents one of the best examples of regional cooperation within Stability Pact practice and provides a balanced policy and framework for cooperation.

Both the UNDP and the Stability Pact have supported the eSEE Initiative since its inception under the Pact’s Working Table II (Economy). Since its creation in 2002 the eSEE Secretariat has been hosted by the UNDP Country Office for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo. The eSEE Secretariat is an executive arm of the eSEE Initiative and plays a pivotal role in the implementation of the objectives of the Initiative as well as acting as the visible focal point for the Initiative.

Through participation in the eSEE Initiative and by signing the first eSEE Agenda followed by eSEE Agenda Plus its members have acknowledged the importance of strengthening the regional approach towards ISD; thus avoiding the adoption of ad-hoc solutions and technologies that would otherwise lead to inconsistent development, incompatibility between national and local systems and consequent delays in progress and implementation. Through the recent adoption of eSEE Agenda Plus, which is closely aligned with the “i2010”, “European Information Society for growth and Employment Action Plan” and other globally recognised approaches the region has expressed its determination to introduce compatible, innovative and interoperable technologies and systems and integrated and interconnected networks. The aim is to transform SEE into a prosperous modern and stable region able to compete effectively in the global market economy.

As a complementary process, the eSEE Initiative currently also supports the work of the Taskforce for Broadband in its implementation of the bSEE Action Plan. This includes support to SEE participants in the promotion of coordinated broadband development, the creation of domestic strategies on broadband, aggregating demand and local content, highlighting the importance of broadband development and raising funds for activities in regard to broadband: hence ultimately lowering the cost of broadband

23 Currently “i2010” 24 eSEE Agenda Plus, Appendix One, Pg. 10 25 Best Practice Showcase, Sarajevo, October 2007

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services in the region. These eSEE Initiative processes will be additionally strengthened by the upcoming UNDP led e-Leadership Programme for the Western Balkans. This programme will be implemented by the UNDP Country Office in BiH in cooperation with eSEE participants through the eSEE Initiative Secretariat, UNDP country offices in the SEE region and the Italian Government; the aim being to strengthen intra-regional and international cooperation within SEE through encouraging and supporting collaborative action conducive to the development of an information society, especially in the areas of e-Governance and e-Democracy. Recent efforts that culminated in the signing of a memorandum of understanding and the inauguration of a Centre for e-Governance (CeGD) in Slovenia is another example of successful eSEE led regional cooperation. The CeGD will be a valuable instrument for training leaders and stakeholders in the use of ICT. The aim is to increase government efficiency and to improve democratic processes, which in turn will help create open information societies, increase transparency, reduce corruption and minimise the digital divide. The future work of the eSEE Initiative shall build upon domestic and regional actions and it will be tied to European policies and practices.

As of this year the successor to the Stability Pact, the Regional Cooperation Council Secretariat, has been based in Sarajevo. The eSEE Initiative plans to capitalise on the continued strong engagement of the Regional Cooperation Council and its Secretary General in furthering the cause for a joint ICT agenda and the promotion of an information society and a knowledge economy in SEE. 4.2 eSEE Agenda 2002-2007 Mainstreaming ICT into national development programmes and segments of society, such as governance, education, business and health, is becoming increasingly important for the countries of SEE, as the region moves towards the EU integration process.

Due to the eSEE Initiative, for the past several years SEE countries have focused on the implementation of those commitments accepted in 2002 within the eSEE Agenda, as a basic document for IT development activities in the SEE region. By signing the eSEE Agenda the SEE countries agreed to adopt it as their principal vehicle for planning, coordinating and implementing the development of an information society in SEE, both generally and separately in each of the cooperating countries/areas. This was followed by the “Memorandum of Understanding on a Taskforce for Broadband”, which was signed during the ministerial conference held in Thessaloniki, with a view to the implementation of the bSEE Action Plan. Through this process the eSEE member countries, that now include Greece and Romania, have also associated themselves unilaterally with the objectives of the EU’s eEurope and eEurope Plus processes, thus agreeing specific actions within the constraints of their specific environments in the below stated fields.

26 The eSEE Initiative members are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and UNMIK/Kosovo. Romania and Greece are participants in the bSEE Taskforce, while Romania has recently joined the eSEE Initiative by formally signing the eSEE Agenda Plus.

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1. Adoption of policy and strategy for an information society.

2. Adoption and implementation of a legal infrastructure for an information society and accordingly to Acquis Communautaire.

3. Establishment of regional cooperation and national implementation mechanisms.

4. Promotion of an information society for development.

By adopting the eSEE Agenda the region of SEE has embarked on a broad strategy to promote the development of an information society. The countries of the region have made considerable progress and have established a regional framework. Moreover, they have strived towards the creation of compatible national ICT development policies and legislation, while designing and implementing a range of exciting and inventive ICT, e-Governance and public administration reform projects in all areas of government.

4.3 Implementation Progress of the eSEE Agenda In relation to the implementation of eSEE Agenda commitments, rather than adopting a one size fits all approach the eSEE focus has been on finding solutions that respect each country’s different needs and level of development. When preparing a solution that would align with the EU framework and harmonise them with EU laws and regulations particular attention was paid to the development of (i) an enabling policy framework, (ii) a proper institutional framework and (iii) an adequate legislative framework for each country to ensure appropriate and sustainable ICT development. The eSEE Initiative aims to promote the best possible fit between the countries of the region and the EU’s own answer to the challenges of ICT: eEurope Plus, the Lisbon Strategy and the associated eEurope2002 Initiative (with its subsequent continuations - eEurope2005 and “i2010”). Therefore, the Agenda has the dual aspects of a regional dimension acting as the framework for coordinated and mutually reinforcing activities at the national level.

The first two of the Agenda’s four major commitments are related to the creation of strategic and institutional frameworks, as well as the legal mechanisms required for the development of an information society. National information society policies and national information society strategies as well as action plans are now largely in place across the region, as are the planned programmes of legislation on topics such as electronic communications infrastructure, e-Commerce, e-Contracts and e-Signatures. It is interesting to note that in mid-2004 only Albania, Croatia and Montenegro formally adopted a national ICT strategy, while Croatia was the only Initiative member that adopted almost all key laws related to information society development. Today’s situation is quite the opposite.

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A complete overview of the status of eSEE Agenda commitments is provided in annex. As we can see, despite the different starting points and country-specific dynamics of each member state, so far all countries of the region have formulated and adopted national ICT strategies and nearly all have formed state cabinet level bodies responsible for their implementation. The legislative reform process is taking place in a synchronised manner in all eSEE member states, with the main focus on the areas of telecommunications, e-Commerce, e-Signature and laws on cybercrime and personal data protection.

In addition, important web-based applications and a number of information systems for civil and document registers and customs and border services are either in the process of being implemented or have already been successfully implemented.

4.4 Impact of eSEE Agenda in South Eastern Europe As explicitly stated in the official final review of the eSEE Agenda’s policy impact, “The eSEE Agenda, in addition to providing a policy and regional cooperation framework to IS development, has inspired and supported significant changes in IS development affairs within the signatory countries�. The Agenda provided a unique development framework that was explored and utilised to varying extents, dependent upon the specific situation in an Initiative member country. In some cases, such as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Agenda was the true enabler of the strategic planning processes that finally led to the formulation and adoption of a state level ICT policy, strategy and action plan; this was achieved in an environment where very few political or other factors were in favour of such a development.

The eSEE Agenda supported the task of developing and adopting strategies and action plans and this support significantly influenced the process towards an open and participatory approach in several countries, including Albania, BiH, Macedonia, Moldova and Serbia. Working groups of national experts from different sectors (including government, the private sector, academia and civil society) were formed, with the support of UNDP national offices, and entrusted with the task of drafting national strategies and action plans. Members of these working groups were drawn from the most qualified and experienced people in these countries. This open process led to a high level of acceptance and sense of ownership over strategy documents by the public, private and civil society sectors, as well as enhancing the strategic value of this activity. Also, the strategy formulation process, initially inspired by commitments under the eSEE Agenda, gained a momentum of its own and resulted in the creation of home-grown policies and strategies.27 In most of the countries involved the creation and reorganisation of institutions for IS was a direct impact of the eSEE Agenda. In some countries, such as Croatia, where a similar scenario related to institutional development would most probably have occurred regardless of the Agenda commitments,28 the aforesaid commitments certainly influenced the outcome. On the other hand, there are examples

27 In Moldova, for example, it led to the creation of an additional strategy on eGovernance and public administration reform; in BiH it led to the in volvement of IT in the Public Administration Reform Strategy endorsed in September 2006; in Croatia the National Programme on Information Security and the One Stop Shop Strategy (HITRO.HR) were created, etc.

28 For example, the Government Office for Internet Infrastructure Development was established in November 2000 as a cabinet level body responsible for the development of an information society.

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where the creation of the relevant bodies was a direct impact of the eSEE Agenda. 29 However, the development of IT capacities within public administration faces numerous challenges: some relate to the need for better physical infrastructure, which is a prerequisite for technically demanding information systems that cover several institutions, while others relate to the presence of an institutional capacity for the development, update and maintenance of such systems; in Bosnia and Herzegovina the establishment of a state level agency for information society continues to be delayed due to the complex political situation in the country.

The eSEE Agenda has indirectly provided a framework for the consolidation of ICT related activities taken up by other international organisations. As a consequence the scope for partnership has expanded under this eSEE umbrella approach towards IS development, to which different agencies now align their ICT related activities. In Kosovo, for instance, UNDP Kosovo, the Kosovo Fund for Open Society, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Region of Lazio have come together to fund the wiring of local government and e-Governance projects in 19 municipalities. In Macedonia and Serbia the UNDP and the Open Society Fund jointly support the development of the national IS strategy through their respective programmes. In addition, the work of the eSEE Working Group has benefited by the participation of the INA/SETA Academy: their assistance was provided in terms of technical expertise for drafting the “National Information Society Policies Guidelines”, created by the UNDP. 4.5 Economy and ICT in South Eastern Europe: Two Mutually Reinforcing Disciplines Despite pessimistic indicators with respect to the SEE economy the ICT industry is actually developing and spreading within the region and is in fact one of the key drivers of economic growth. The reason behind this lies in the fact that ICT is not limited to developed countries, but rather it represents global interests and in particular the interests of all. The governments of almost all of the countries within the region are either trying to design or have already designed effective policies to facilitate the use of ICT with the aim of stimulating economic growth.

According to the BiH “E-Readiness Assessment Report for 2005” around 2,600 companies in BiH were businesses registered within the ICT industry [7]; when compared with the same study for 2003 the number of registered ICT companies has increased tenfold. Moving to a more macro perspective, according to the IDC [8] IT spending in some SEE countries in 2006 was rather respectable: Croatia 25%, Serbia 13% and Romania 36%; the corresponding GDP IT revenue share in Serbia amounted to as much as 5.6%. For example, annual investment in ICT in the countries of SEE varies between 0.15 and 0.5% of GDP, of which the most is generated by the telecommunications sector. This region also invests fivefold less in development and research in the field of ICT. Unlike EU countries (except for

29 For example, the IT department within the General Secretariat of the Government of Macedonia.

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Romania and Bulgaria) where 13 out of every 1,000 workers are researchers in the field of information and communications technologies in the SEE region that number is three.30 However, it seems that governments do not always recognise this potential. There are resources (factories and companies) that have potential, but without serious governmental stimulation this potential cannot be fully utilised. Governments often find themselves without adequate managerial resources as well as without updated and or accurate data. This has increased the awareness that in all SEE countries the software engineering industry tends to increase the ability of local companies to participate in the production and delivery of software, for both domestic and export needs, and this has resulted in various government measures aimed at the creation of an environment suitable for the development of the ICT industry.

Several other significant challenges continue to persist, namely that many countries in the region have been in an extended process of transition to a market economy and that all have been affected by a significant development gap. All of these countries are at different stages of IS development and some face the challenge of dealing with an obsolete, inappropriate or seriously damaged infrastructure, while others are faced with a lack of appropriate institutional capacity. Legislative and structural frameworks have not been fully completed and resources (human, financial, etc.) are often insufficient to carry through ambitious reforms. An exchange of experience and knowledge in this area is an essential part of this process. Moreover, SEE countries share common problems in this area, such as a shortage of capital, hardware and software shortages as well as underdeveloped telecommunications infrastructures and telecommunications market monopolies, low public awareness, a need for improvement in digital literacy and skills among businesses organisations and consumers, the necessity for organisational transformation and national economic reconstruction as well as the need to follow the social and cultural implications of the new economy. Therefore one cannot overstress the importance of a regional approach. Only a coherent region with seamless integration of major infrastructure and economic systems has any chance of successful interface with an increasingly unitary European system.

4.6 New Framework of Information Society Development: eSEE Agenda Plus 2007-2012 In 2006 the eSEE Initiative Working Group made the commitment that a further stage of the eSEE Agenda should be articulated and agreed upon. Having the obligation to provide and implement government services and to create and support the environment for other electronic services of an information society, the governments of the region also felt that the time had arrived to define and pursue a new set of goals that would jointly employ ICT as a tool for economic growth, job creation, EU integration and to underpin the long-term stability of the region. The drafting of the new document, appropriately named “eSEE Agenda Plus for the Development of Information Society in South Eastern

30 Great-Ist Final Project Report, http://www.inatelecom.org

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Europe 2007-2012” (commonly referred to as “eSEE Agenda Plus”), started in April 2006 under the guidance of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The adjustments were completed in the same year. The signing ceremony took place in Sarajevo on 29 October 2007 during the South Eastern Europe Ministerial Conference on Information Society Development.

In eSEE Agenda Plus the governments of the SEE countries and the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo 31 stated that they were firmly resolved to pursue the priorities and objectives defined under the document. They looked to the eSEE Initiative Working Group to ensure and monitor, within its level of responsibility, their fulfilment of this major step towards a joint effort to build an information society in SEE. In order to encourage the development of an information society in the member countries of the eSEE Initiative, during the period 2007-2012, the signatories endorsed the strategic framework below.

• •

They accepted the “i2010” - A European Information Society for growth and Employment - as a general framework for IS development in the region.

They associated themselves with the priorities defined under the “i2010” framework, but within the specific environment of the SEE region and thus they rephrased the defined priorities for IS development policies into the region-specific priorities below.

1. Further development of a single SEE information space that promotes an open and competitive internal market for an information society and the media, moving it towards a common European information space in terms of interoperability.

2. Strengthening innovation and investment in ICT research and education while working with the private sector to promote growth and more and better jobs.

3. Achieving an inclusive information society that promotes growth and jobs in a manner that is consistent with sustainable development and that prioritises better public services and quality of life.

While the “i2010” Initiative aims primarily to create growth and jobs in Europe’s information society the real driver for growth is the demand for services. It is based on consumer interest in the benefits of such technology: communications, entertainment and high-quality services. These services are somewhat different from the region-specific priorities when taking into account previous developments in the European Union, which influenced the list of priorities as a development framework for IS development.

31 On behalf of Kosovo and in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)

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While not including, for instance, some high-definition audio visual services eSEE Agenda Plus defines a range of services apposite to the regional environment, including broadband communications, online content, interoperability, harmonisation, ICT skills improvement, research and services for citizens and for business.

Within the defined priorities, grouped into three priority areas, the signatories devoted themselves to accomplishing the detailed and measurable list of objectives within concrete deadlines. In order to secure the continuous implementation of the objectives of eSEE Agenda Plus the participants will carry out annual domestic benchmarking for an agreed subset of indicators used by the EU for the “i2010” Initiative. Implementation of eSEE Agenda Plus priority areas shall be facilitated through the platform provided by the eSEE Initiative Working Group, with expert support from the eSEE Secretariat/UNDP and the political backing of the emerging cooperation framework via the Sarajevo based Regional Cooperation Council.

4.7 The Expected Impact of eSEE Agenda Plus Implementation The expected impact of eSEE Agenda Plus can be summarised as the following: • • •

national development; regional cooperation; EU compliance.

The central goal of those participating in eSEE Agenda Plus, similar to eSEE Agenda, including most of those active at the national level, is to give a significant boost to the development of IS in their respective countries and to reinforce the existing momentum for regional cooperation. The different starting points of signatory countries and fluctuating levels of political commitment and resources available between countries will most likely influence the final outcome of this action plan. However, having a regional master plan for the development of an information society provides common ground and a thread of continuity in light of the ever changing and politically unstable environment of SEE. Signing of the eSEE Agenda raised the strategic importance of IS development activities at the national level in terms of an increased level of awareness, commitment and communication on ICT issues. The visible public impact will be achieved by implementing e-Government services and eventually creating a One Stop Shop strategy. Access to technology, e-Participation and e-Democracy will lead to a cultural and social change. This will be facilitated by more affordable broadband networks and secure services.

Knowledge building and the resulting economic impact will be achieved through fostering the development of e-Business and ICT research. This strategic document in itself constitutes a solid

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foundation for regional cooperation and the initiation of projects of benefit to the region. We can anticipate concrete regional coordination, collaboration and interaction as well as the promotion of optimal practices and an exchange of know-how. This can further lead to interconnection with similar international initiatives.

In the process of implementing eSEE Agenda Plus the participants consented to make provision for collaborative action and to build a strong partnership with the EU, thus encouraging institutions, businesses and authorities to learn from their experience. The reforms are supposed to be implemented within the framework of harmonisation with Acquis Communautaire. By opting to follow European programmes and practices prior to ascension to the EU the signatories are sending a strong signal of readiness in terms of EU compliance. The participants, with the aim to improve regional cooperation, will build domestic and regional capacities to link professionals, business and institutions across the region with the EU. The creation of a single information space should follow European practice through interoperability and the harmonisation of rules.

The eSEE Agenda Plus has the potential to generate ample momentum to fully involve policymakers and implementation entities to effectively coordinate across ministries and to reach out and enable the effective participation of non-governmental stakeholders. Implementation of eSEE Agenda Plus is monitored quarterly by the Sarajevo based eSEE Secretariat via regular updates of the matrices that were created against eSEE Agenda Plus targets. These eSEE matrices (attached under Annex) are an internal benchmarking tool that shows both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the implementation of eSEE Agenda Plus.

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5. ANNEX 5.1. Methodology The previously published e-Readiness Report (2005) explained that although there are many methodologies used around the world for measuring the development of information society the three most popular ones are the SIBIS methodology, proposed by the European Union, another proposed by the World Economic Forum and the UN methodology proposed through the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development. However, some sections of the report relied heavily on primary data, whereas the secondary data was most frequently used for the telecom, ISP and ICT sectors. Data from the Communications Regulatory Agency of BiH (CRA) was found to be the most formalised and official; therefore it was used when necessary and through the discretion of the Agency itself. Furthermore, meetings with CRA staff were conducted in order to share the project goals and to officially request data.

As previously mentioned, this report contains both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected through direct contact with government institutions at the state, entity and cantonal level, while municipal institutions were approached through an outsourced company that conducted a survey.

Furthermore, the relevant education ministries at the entity and cantonal level were also contacted directly, as were the courts at the state, entity, cantonal and municipal level. In regard to the telecommunications sector, three main GSM operators (BH Telecom, HT Mostar, and Telekom Republike Srpske) were contacted directly, as were eleven alternative operators listed on the official Communications Regulatory Agency’s webpage. Also, Internet service providers and the information and communications technologies industry were contacted directly. However, the response rate was poor and consequently this data was not deemed to be sufficiently useful for presentation in aggregate terms: hence the use of secondary data for these sectors. CRA official reports for the telecommunications sector were used to present data for this sector, while the Association for Information Technologies in BiH (BAIT) report was used to present the situation in the ISP and ICT industries sectors.

Prism Research, an independent consultancy/research company, conducted (a) a survey on behalf of the UNDP in 114 municipalities with the aim to determine the degree of e-Readiness among local level communities and (b) household research regarding the level of IT penetration. Both surveys covered a wide range of respondents and took into account diversities in ethnic, geographic (urban/rural), age, gender and employment levels. A full list of questions is shown below.

The list of institutions and private actors contacted, according to sector, is given below.

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•

Government institutions at the state, entity and cantonal level: ministries, agencies, committees, bureaus, inspectorates etc.

•

Municipal government institutions (Prism Research conducted a survey among 114 municipal governments within both entities).

•

Courts at the state, entity, cantonal and municipal level.

•

Education ministries at the entity and cantonal level, as well as primary and secondary schools at the municipal level.

•

Higher education institutions (universities and faculties across BiH).

•

Households across BiH, to examine IT household penetration (Prism Research conducted a survey amongst 1,000 households throughout BiH).

•

Telecom operators: the three main operators and eleven alternative operators.

•

Internet service providers and IT companies.

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5.1.1 Questions Used for Research Questionnaires used for gathering information from primary sources were designed using the 2005 e-Readiness Report, while making some adjustments and changes where necessary. However, their purpose was to gather clear, simple and reliable data relevant for assessment and analysis of the e-Readiness of various sectors, both governmental and private.

The following indicators were requested during the process of collecting primary data for the years 2007, 2008 and 2009: Government institutions • • • • • •

Number of employees and number of computers?

Connection of computers into LAN? e-mail (existence)?

Webpage (existence)?

Access to the Internet (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL or other)?

Investment in the development and use of ICT, in BAM and % terms, for hardware, software and services in 2007 and 2008?

Courts • • • • • •

Number of employees and number of computers?

Connection of computers into LAN? e-mail (existence)?

Webpage (existence)?

Access to the Internet (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL or other)?

Investment in the development and use of ICT, in BAM and % terms, for hardware, software and services in 2007 and 2008?

Ministries of education • • •

Number of schools, pupils, teachers and computers?

Number of schools with a computer lab?

Number of schools with LAN?

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• • • •

Number of schools with access to the Internet?

Number of schools with a Webpage?

Access to the Internet (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL or other)?

Investment in the development and use of ICT, in BAM and % terms, for hardware, software and services in 2007 and 2008?

Universities and faculties • • • • • • • • •

Number of students, professors and computers?

Number of faculties (for universities)?

Connection of computers into LAN? Existence of computer lab?

Professors’ e-mail (existence)?

Webpage (existence)?

Access to the Internet (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL or other)?

Investment in the development and use of ICT, in BAM and % terms, for hardware, software and services in 2007 and 2008?

Existence of specialised software for distance learning?

Primary and secondary schools • • • • • • • • • •

Number of pupils, teachers and computers?

Existence of computer lab?

Connection of computers into LAN? Teachers’ e-mail (existence)?

Number of computers available to students?

Number of certified teachers with IT skills?

Webpage (existence)?

Access to the Internet (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL, other)?

Investment in the development and use of ICT, in BAM and % terms, for hardware, software and services in 2007 and 2008?

Existence of specialised software for distance learning?

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Telecom operators • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Number of telephone subscribers per 1,000 inhabitants?

Number of mobile phone subscribers per 1,000 inhabitants?

Number of telephone payphones per 1,000 inhabitants?

Number of registered ISP? Number of Internet users (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL)?

Total available capacity of international Internet access in MB/s?

Price of landline phone connection for physical persons?

Price of landline phone connection for legal persons?

Price of monthly subscription for physical persons?

Price of monthly subscription for legal persons?

Price of one-minute call for post and pre-paid users (peak and off-peak)?

Price of a start package for post and pre-paid mobile users?

Price of monthly subscription for post-paid users?

Structure of communication for an average user of mobile network per month in % (within own network, landline, other networks)?

•

Number of Internet users according to connection type (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL, wireless, cable or other)?

ISP

IT companies • • • • • • • • •

Total financial earnings in 2007 (less than 500,000 BAM, 500,000-1.5 million BAM, 1.5-5 million BAM, more than 5 million BAM)?

Primary business of company (hardware, software, ISP)?

Structure of consumers in % (physical persons, banks, international organisations, government institutions and state-owned firms, other legal persons)?

Structure of employed in % (total number, number working on developing software, number working on hardware, network and systematic software, men/women)?

Number of computers sold (servers, laptops, desktops)?

Number of individuals and companies using your applicative software?

Number of own software products?

Number of ISP users, if offering this service?

Satisfaction with your provider (yes/no)?

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Municipalities • • • • • • • •

Number of employees and number of computers?

Connection of computers into LAN? e-mail (existence)?

Webpage (existence)?

Access to the Internet (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL or other)?

Investment in the development and use of ICT, in BAM and % terms, for hardware, software and services in 2007 and 2008?

Total budget for 2008 and predicted budget for 2009?

Existence of a Register of Births, Register of Marriages, Register of Citizenship, Land Register, Register of Social Benefits?

Households • • • • • • • • •

Total number of people living in your household?

Existence of a personal computer at home?

Number of household members using a PC at home?

Existence of Internet connection at home?

Number of household members using an Internet connection at home?

Access to the Internet (ISDN, dial-up, ADSL or other)?

Satisfaction with the Internet connection?

Number of household members using a computer from another location (work, school, Internet club, etc)?

Number of household members using e-mail?

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5.1.2 Collection of Data A team of three consultants (two junior and one senior) was involved in the collection of data, which was separated according to sector. Hence, the questionnaires were prepared to reflect certain sectors.

The team contacted most institutions through e-mail and or fax and most responses were received in the same manner. Questionnaires were designed in such a way as to take a short time to complete. The questionnaires, accompanied by a cover letter, were sent in late September 2008 and in April 2010.

Two independent surveys were carried out by Prism Research in cooperation and under the leadership of the UNDP, who designed the questionnaires. The surveys targeted (1) BiH households regarding the level of IT penetration and (2) BiH municipalities, as a part of the study of government institutions.

A total of 161 government institutions at the state, entity and cantonal level were contacted and 82 responded. When it came to the courts, 70 state, entity, cantonal and municipal level courts were contacted of which 49 replied to our questionnaires. Six universities were contacted and three responded. Of the 25 faculties that received our questionnaires 14 sent back their answers. The RS Ministry of Education and Culture and five cantonal ministries of education replied. In addition, most BiH primary and secondary schools were contacted individually, but the response rate was poor. As mentioned above, in addition to this Prism Research conducted a survey covering 1,000 households across BiH and 114 municipalities within both entities and BrÄ?ko District.