Executive summary
Defined as a lower middle-income country by the World Bank, Macedonia possesses a services dominated economy, which represents approximately 60% of GDP. Like many of its neighbours, it has been hit hard by the global financial crisis due to lack of demand for exports and a drop off in foreign direct investment, in turn softening domestic consumption and putting pressure on fiscal accounts. Economic growth is expected to remain flat during 2009 although medium term prospects have been rated as good by the International Monetary Fund due to continued macroeconomic stability and ongoing structural reforms.
Much of the structural reforms have been due to its bid to join the EU, which is progressing as noted by its status as an official EU candidate. As part of the EU pre-accession process, Macedonia has received financial aid to build public institutions and improve cross-border co-operation under EU funding mechanism Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). Under the IPA, Macedonia is expected to receive €81.8 million during 2009, €92.3 million during 2010, €98.7 million during 2011 and €105.8 million during 2012.
EU structural reforms have found their way into the communications industry, with the EU's regulatory framework for communications transposed into national law, with the aim of establishing a fair and competitive communications market. The telecoms market has been liberalised and recent regulatory developments in the area of network access is improving prospects for competition, as evident by increasing uptake of wholesale offers.
Internet user and subscriber penetration is growing with a shift to broadband evident as it now represents the majority of Internet subscriptions. Improving Internet speeds has paved the way for new Internet based services such as broadband TV (IPTV) and fostering development of an Internet society. TV programming is accessible via cable, FTA and IPTV and the digital TV market is emerging due to introduction of IPTV and developments in the DTTV market during 2009.
Three mobile network operators serve Macedonia's mobile market, with competition increasing following the relatively recent launch of services by the third operator and introduction of mobile number portability. The launch of WCDMA/HSDPA networks opens a new revenue opportunity as subscriber levels indicate saturation in the mobile voice market and overall broadband levels in the country are relatively low.
Key highlights:
Regulatory developments are opening up the fixed line market, introducing local loop unbundling, naked DSL, line resale, wholesale line rental and number portability. Competing operators have taken up unbundling offers as well as resale and WLR offers. Within six months of introduction several thousand fixed numbers have been ported. However total fixed lines are in decline as end users abandon fixed lines for mobile phones.
Strong broadband growth recorded in recent years will continue due to the significant number of remaining dial-up subscribers. Regulatory developments are improving competition in the wholesale broadband market, with evidence from broadband markets in EU countries indicating a healthy wholesale market is viable.
Digital TV prospects have improved as the incumbent has launched IPTV and a tender to manage DTTV multiplexes was successfully concluded in May 2009. The transition to digital broadcasting is expected to be completed by 2012.
Competition is intensifying in the mobile market as a the newest mobile network operator aggressively chases subscriber growth, an international investor consolidates its presence in Macedonia's telecom market by acquiring the second largest mobile network operator and the introduction of mobile network portability to reduce barriers for users choosing to take advantage of competitive offerings and switching service providers. The launch of WCDMA/HSPDA networks opens up a new revenue opportunity in mobile broadband offerings.
Table of Contents
1. Executive summary
2. Key statistics
3. Telecommunications market
3.1 Overview of Macedonia's telecom market
4. Regulatory environment
4.1 History
4.2 Regulatory authority
4.2.1 Agency for Electronic Communications (AEC)
4.3 Telecom sector liberalisation in Macedonia
4.3.1 Privatisation
4.3.2 Interconnect
4.3.3 Access
4.3.4 Carrier selection and Carrier PreSelection CPS)
4.3.5 Number portability
5. Fixed network operators in Macedonia
5.1 Overview of operators
5.2 Makedonski Telekom (Maktel)
5.3 On.net
6. Telecommunications infrastructure
6.1 National telecom network
6.2 International infrastructure
7. Internet market
7.1 Overview
7.1.1 Internet statistics
7.2 Macedonia's emerging Internet society
8. Fixed broadband market
8.1 Overview
8.1.1 Broadband statistics
8.2 Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
8.3 Fixed wireless broadband
8.4 wireless broadband
8.4.1 WiFi
8.4.2 WiMAX
9. Digital media
9.1 Overview of broadcasting market
9.2 Digital TV
9.2.1 Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV)
9.2.2 Cable TV
10. Mobile communications
10.1 Overview of Macedonia's mobile market
10.1.1 Mobile statistics
10.2 Regulatory issues
10.2.1 Third GSM licence
10.2.2 3G licence
10.2.3 Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
10.3 Mobile technologies
10.4 Mobile operators
10.4.1 Overview of operators
10.4.2 T-Mobile
10.4.3 Cosmofon
10.4.4 VIP
10.5 Mobile voice services
10.5.1 Prepaid
10.6 Mobile data services
10.6.1 Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE)
10.6.2 BlackBerry
10.6.3 Mobile broadband
10.7 Mobile content and applications
11. Forecasts-broadband subscribers-2009-2012; 2018
11.1 Scenario 1-higher broadband subscriber growth
11.2 Scenario 2-lower broadband subscriber growth
11.3 Notes on scenario forecasts
12. Related reports
Table 1-Country statistics Macedonia-2009
Table 2-Telephone network statistics-2008
Table 3-Internet user statistics-2008
Table 4-Internet subscriber statistics-2008
Table 5-Broadband subscribers-March 2009
Table 6-Mobile statistics-March 2009
Table 7-National telecommunications authority
Table 8-Telecoms market revenue by service-2007-2008
Table 9-Incumbent network call termination cost-January 2009
Table 10-Cost of LLU and shared access lines-January 2009
Table 11-Makedonski Telekomunikacii¨C fixed lines in service-2005-2008
Table 12-Fixed lines in service and teledensity-1995-2008
Table 13-Internet users, subscribers and penetration rates-1999-2008
Table 14-Makedonski TelekomInternet subscribers by connection type-2004-2007
Table 15-Fixed broadband subscribers & penetration rate-2005-2009
Table 16-Fixed broadband subscribers by access type-2005-2008
Table 17-Fixed broadband subscribers by ISP-2007-2008
Table 18-Makedonski Telekom ADSL & leased line subscribers-2005-2008
Table 19-Mobile operators, subscribers and annual change-March 2009
Table 20-Mobile subscribers and penetration rate-1997-2009
Table 21-Mobile network call termination costs-January 2009
Table 22-T-Mobile MOU and ARPU-2004-2008
Table 23-T-Mobile revenue and EBITDA-2004-2008
Table 24-T Cosmofon financial data-2007-2008
Table 25-Cosmofon MOU and ARPU-2007-2008
Table 26-VIP financial data-2007-2008
Table 27-Ratio of prepaid to postpaid subscribers-2005-2009
Table 28-T-Mobile prepaid subscribers-2004-2008
Table 29-Forecast broadband subscribers-higher growth scenario-2009-2012; 2018
Table 30-Forecast broadband subscribers-lower growth scenario-2009-2012; 2018
Exhibit 1-Frequency bands-expressions of interest-2007
