North saw full internet access and mobile phone

Hetemi lives in northern Kosovo, in the municipality of Leposaviqi, where the mobile phone signal continues to be weak. He's the phone operator Vala.

This municipality, along with Zvecan's, Northern Mitrovica and Zubin Potok, are inhabited by Serb majority.

The lack of mobile phone waves and the lack of access to the Internet is presented as concern for Hetem.

“For any necessary calls, or an emergency call, you need to go out into some higher space. Especially during winter the situation gets even harder. This is pointless to happen in the 20th century”, he says.

As a flaw, Izmir Zeqiri, resident of the village of Caber, also the municipality of Zubin Potok, who also exploits Vala services.

He shows that there is an improvement in mobile and internet access in his village recently, but not even in other villages and cities.

There's a lot of trouble in telecommunications. The use of telephone and internet is essential and this is Kurdicep”, he says.

Emir Azemi from Northern Mitrovica uses other operator IPKO, but problems are the same as other residents.

But the mobile phone that works best in the north is that of the Serbian phone operator MTS, which most people use in the north.

The company “Mts.o.o.” is licensed by Kosovo institutions and operates in limited territory, respectively, in Serb-run municipalities in Kosovo.

Vala and IPKO are the two companies licensed for operation throughout the territory of Kosovo. The fixed and mobile phone, Vala, operates within the public company, Kosovo Telecom.

Representatives of Vala and IPKO agree that internet coverage and mobile phone in these areas is not at the same level as other parts of the country.

The fixed and mobile phone, Vala, operates within the public company, Kosovo Telecom.

This operator acknowledges that these municipalities are partially covered with 3G technology.

The border checkpoint in Jarinje and part of Jarinje Street ʹ Leposaviq and Mitrovica-Leposaviq is covered with 3G technology, the city is not well covered, whereas 4G technology is not implemented. Meanwhile, there is no coverage of the cable internet in this municipality.

The same situation, with limited access, appears in the Zvecan municipality.

Zubin Potok's municipality is covered with 3G technology in most of the city, Lake of Weyman, as well as the road to the border point at Brnjak. The village of Caber is also well covered. The border checkpoint in Brnjak is covered with 4G technology.

With internet services covered in Kosovo Customs, Posta and Raiffeisen Bank.

North Mitrovica is covered mainly with new technologies from southern Mitrovica base stations, said Fadil Lepaja, spokesperson for the company.

Taking on these problems, Economy Minister Artane Rizvanolli, during a visit completed at the end of last year to the company, has said they are looking at opportunities to help Telekom worth about one million euros to cope with capital investments in the extent of the network in northern Kosovo municipalities.

The laptop from Telekom said last year they have accepted from the Ministry of Economy a million-euro sum, related to investments in expanding the network across the territory of the Republic of Kosovo.

For the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, it is a whole body, as well as clients, he said, therefore “the aim of the company is to have extensions in every corner of the Republic and to include all consumers indiscriminately”.

“In parts of the territory that you refer to, last year has become the extension of the network, where part of the investments are covered with the amount accepted by the Ministry of Economy”, Lepaja said, not showing how much it was.

And from the other company, IPKO, they say these municipalities are not completely covered with technology.

Even after the dots were damaged in the northern part, IPKO has continued to extend the network to that part, but due to the uncertainty it has been, it has not been managed to cover the entire area, said Africa Zyfer, official for relations in this company.

Points in that area have 2G/4G technology Or 2G/3G, same as in other parts

But recently, it says in response, IPKO has co-operation with the Government of Kosovo, to facilitate the process of extending the network away, transparency in that area, and by the end of the year, there is expected to be a signal improvement.

IPKO has covered the entire northern part of Kosovo, but during the 2010 riots, [the equipment] has been damaged. Operator Attacks The IPKO is said to have been carried out by several local Serbs in April 2010 in retaliation, as ARKEP has stopped operating a Serbian mobile phone company operating without license on Kosovo territory.

The Serbian operator MTS functions in Kosovo as a result of the 2013 telecommunication international agreement between Kosovo and Serbia.

The Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Kosovo Posting (ARKEP) is responsible for the licensing and monitoring of telecommunications services providers in Kosovo.

Nazim Rahimi, chairman of the ARKEP Board, says mobile operators, Kosovo Telecom and IPKO, have authorisation from the ARKEP for infrastructure extension and provision of services on the entire territory of the Republic of Kosovo, including northern municipalities.

In order to create conditions for investment in new technologies, ARKEP in February has provided additional capacity for Telekom and IPKO, including 5G technology.

In the Kosovo market for mobile internet and fixedly operate: Kosovo Telecom, IPKO, Memory, Artmotion, AE Holding, Ard Holding and other operators. According to ARKEP data, most users have IPKO and Artmotion, followed by the Kosovo Memory and Telecom.

Kosovo is one of the countries with the largest use of mobile internet in the Balkans.

During the fourth quarter of last year, according to ARKEP, mobile phone access has been 98 percent, and internet access from home 96 percent. /rel