Prishtina, 10 September 2013
Significance of Agreement on Telecommunications
CODE:
In the Telecommunications Agreement, with regard to the code, Kosovo has securing missing pre-provisions and guarantees for a telephone country code. These pre-provisions and guarantees will be provided and supervised by the European Union which will support Kosovo’s bid for a country code, in line with ITU principles and procedures.
As the agreement sets out, within a 3 month period, with the supervision and facilitation of the EU, the parties must find a way to present Kosovo’s application for a three digit code + 383 or + 384 and this remains the condition for the Regulatory Authority to begin examining the request for temporary approval of the limited operations of an operator in northern Kosovo, until the organization of an auction/international tender for the opening up of frequency bands according to applicable laws and regulations in the Republic of Kosovo. Ultimately, this means implementing law and order in this part of our country and in practice, this means that other Serb operators will have to terminate unauthorized operations and provision of services.
Licensed operators (in particular the public operator Vala), after starting to use the unique code from January 2015 will save an annual amount of about 7 to 8 million Euros (direct costs resulting from using a foreign state code ).
AGREEMENTS BETWEEN REGULATORS:
This agreement provides and creates the missing preconditions for achieving technical agreements relating to the planning, use and management of radio frequencies in both countries, thus avoiding radio frequency interference caused by diffusive radio and telecommunications infrastructure (TV and radio signals) on the state borders of our country.
The agreement creates preconditions and commercial prospects for operators in both countries to reach agreements on roaming and interconnection. Reaching these agreements will directly affect the reduction of tariffs and consequently communications costs for citizens of both countries, regardless of ethnicity.
LANDLINE TELEPHONE:
The Law on Electronic Communication and the regulations of the Regulatory Authority does not provide for limitations on the number of licenses for this communications sector and in this regard Kosovo welcomes investment in this sector, especially considering the downward trend in the use of this service, as new investment will create new jobs and the possibility of an alternative choice of communications services for the citizens of our country.
MOBILE TELEPHONE:
The agreement provides for the remaining part of the telecommunications infrastructure in the north of the country to operate in full accordance and compliance with the applicable laws and regulations in Kosovo. This permit for the sector means the final establishment of the legal delivery of services which are regulated and supervised by the Regulatory Authority, fully meeting all administrative and financial obligations to state bodies, such as: ARKEP, TAK, the Customs, etc.
Under no circumstances should this temporary permit be understood or interpreted to be a standard LICENCE and this conclusively eliminates any understanding or potential interpretation of it being a Third Mobile Phone Operator.
By extending law and order to this part of the country, the agreement creates the preconditions for the provision of a comprehensive and clear overview of competitiveness in the sector; it provides and guarantees legal certainty for current and new investors, and a considerable additional collection of revenue for the country’s budget.
POSTAL SERVICES:
The agreement involves the consent of the parties to a technical agreement on postal services which was initially rejected by the Serbian side, and this also represents a first move toward internationalizing postal services and the membership of the Kosovo Post at the UPU (Universal Postal Union) and Post Europa.
TECHNICAL IMPLEMENTATION GROUP:
The Agreement foresees the creation of groups to implement the agreement, under the supervision of the EU, with a mandate to draft working plans for the implementation of the framework agreement.
Significance of Agreement on Energy
At transmission level:
The Transmission Operator of Serbia has promised to recognize KOSTT internationally, as the sole operator of transmission in the entire territory of Kosovo and this recognition will materialize in the signing of relevant agreements according to the standards of ENTSO-E (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity).
By this Agreement, the Serbian Transmission Operator will support the accession of KOSTT to ENTSO-e, thus not be obstructive, as it has been up to now.
Materially these benefits can be expected:
• Kosovo, and respectively KOSTT, may collect revenues from energy in transit to third countries since with the signing of the agreement KOSTT becomes part of the mechanism for cooperation between operators at the European level. According to past energy data, such revenue could reach from 1,500,000.00 to 2,500,000.00 Euros/year.
• KOSTT can collect revenue from sharing transmission capacity on interconnection lines with neighboring countries in cases of congestion. Preliminary data reviewed indicate approximately that this revenue could amount to 1,500,000 Euros/year.
• The cost of importing energy will reduce by 19% of the value of VAT, which Serbia had placed on commercial companies exporting to Kosovo.
In addition, the parties agreed, on the basis of principles and mechanisms applied in the past, to find solutions for mutual requests for the previous period, with regard to transit and sharing of transmission capacity on interconnector lines. If no satisfactory agreement can be found for both sides then international arbitration will take place. (According to KOSTT estimates, the value of contestation in the entire previous period could be between 25 and 30 million Euros).
By taking control of the Vallaq substation (110/35kV) in the northern area, KOSTT will establish in practice control of the entire transmission system and the illegal interference of Serb operators in the northern area will terminate by also including dispatch control of the HC Ujman and imports on the 110kV line from Novi Pazar.
Collaboration at the level of Regulatory Authorities:
The parties also agreed to cooperate in the establishment of regulatory frameworks in line with the Energy Treaty in order to recognize each other’s licenses for electricity trading.
After signing, besides those provisions in the agreement that require specific actions and which oblige the parties to immediately take action, such as the Interconnection Agreement, and past applications which KOSTT and EMS have to deal with, implementation groups will be set up to address all other issues and to agree on an Implementation Plan and later, on an Action Plan.
Arrangements regarding Energy
Arrangements regarding Telecommunications
