Montenegro should start using its potential when it comes to telecommunications equipment

Published on 15. March 2023., News

State companies own almost 10,000 kilometers of optical cables and other telecommunications equipment, and only ten to 15% of these capacities are used.

The Interlocutor of Vijesti, involved in the preparation of the analysis of the establishment of the state telecommunications company and its future activities, said that by combining these resources, a respectable company would be created, which, by issuing that infrastructure, as well as new services, would generate significantly higher revenues than now, while the public sector would have significant savings.

He said that the new company would not be a classic telecommunication – telephone operator for the time being, but would deal with the issuance of transmission capacities, new services such as “smart house”, online ordering and monitoring of services of state companies, provision of special services to the public sector, education and healthcare, i.e. that it has unlimited development possibilities.

The Montenegrin Electric Distribution System (CEDIS) has 5,500 kilometers of telecommunication optical cables, while the Montenegrin Electric Transmission System (CGES), Railway Infrastructure, Electric Power Industry (EPCG), Regional Water Supply, Radio Broadcasting Center and Monteput have slightly smaller capacities. Those state companies have invested tens of millions of EUR in the construction of these networks in recent years, and they use them for their own needs and only partially for commercial distribution to others.

CEDIS said for Vijesti that EUR 19 million has been invested in their telecommunications network in recent years, that they use it for the management and supervision of the electricity distribution network, and that in the past three years they have earned EUR 333,000 from its issuance to telecommunications companies.

The railway Infrastructure has laid several optical cables along the railway line from Bar to the border with Serbia and from Podgorica to Nikšić, and from their issuance to other companies in three years, it earned EUR 1.6 million.
CGES has optical cables along all transmission lines, connections with neighboring countries, but also with Italy via submarine cable.

State companies that combine telecommunications capacities also exist in European Union countries, and, as announced, Montenegro would use a concept similar to that in Slovenia. Some of the possible services would be the so-called “smart house”, because optical cables are located to all households that have meters for remote reading.

This would mean that the user can see his consumption at any time through the phone application, how he can reduce it, which devices are on and can turn them off.

The government formed a commission that analyzes the plan for unification and use of similar international experiences, which includes representatives of state companies.

CEDIS and Railway Infrastructure (ŽICG) stated that the development of that idea is only in the initial phase.

– Given that it is a completely new initiative, which refers to the unification of the telecommunications infrastructure owned by state companies into a new state telecommunications company, CEDIS will, after considering all possibilities and considering the factual situation, announce its position regarding that initiative – they said. Are from the company.

ŽICG announced that they have just appointed their representative in the group that is developing this idea, which is why they do not have all the necessary data related to the establishment of this company for now.

– Certainly, aware of the fact that the field of telecommunications is extremely profitable, we believe that it could be a good move. Accordingly, ŽICG has appointed a representative who will actively cooperate with the representatives of all state companies, which also own insufficiently valorized optical fibers – they stated from ŽICG.

CEDIS, they said, owns more than 5,500 kilometers of aerial optical infrastructure built through OPGW and ADSS, namely 550 kilometers of OPGW optical infrastructure installed on 35kV transmission lines and about five thousand kilometers of ADSS optical infrastructure on the 0.4kV low-voltage network.
– In the part of OPGW optics, CEDIS owns capacities of 24 optical fibers on all sections. In the ADSS optics part, cables of various capacities were used depending on the needs and statics of the poles, and the capacities owned by CEDIS vary from six to 72 optical fibers on different sections – the company stated.