Coverage limited in northern Kosovo
All telecoms operators from Serbia told BIRN that the implementation of the roam-like-at-home agreement functions in Kosovo similarly to the way it does in other countries.
Usage rises after roaming deal begins
The Western Balkans Roaming Report by the Regional Cooperation Council, RCC analysed international roaming services in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia in 2021. It revealed that roaming users in the Western Balkans made outgoing calls lasting about eight times longer within the Western Balkans region compared to when they were the European Economic Area, EEA. Western Balkans users also consumed approximately seven times more data services within the region than while roaming within the EEA.
The report highlighted the countries with the highest inbound and outbound roaming usage and the differences in wholesale revenues and costs between EEA and Western Balkans operators. While EEA operators had higher average wholesale revenues per unit, the gap was narrower for SMS and data services due to high international mobile termination rates.
The implementation of the roam-like-at-home initiative on July 1, 2021 resulted in a significant increase in average consumption per Western Balkans user while roaming, highlighting the price sensitivity of Western Balkans roamers.
Voice call duration and data consumption per user experienced substantial growth in the second half of 2021, except for Montenegro. Increases ranged from 45 per cent in Kosovo to 237 per cent in Serbia for call duration, and from 62 per cent in Albania to 459 per cent in Serbia for data consumption.
Western Balkans users utilised approximately eight times more outgoing call minutes while roaming within the Western Balkans region compared to the EEA. This ratio increased elevenfold in the fourth quarter. Data consumption per user while roaming in the region was about seven times higher than that of EEA users.
Montenegro had the highest usage of roaming services among the Western Balkans countries.
Western Balkans users generated 3.4 million GB of data traffic while roaming in the Western Balkans region in 2021, a 45 per cent increase compared to the previous year and more than double the volumes of 2019. Data roaming consumption in the EEA reached 427,000 GB in 2021, 2.6 times higher than in 2020 and 40 per cent higher than in 2019.
However, Ipko Communications, a major mobile provider in Kosovo, only has an agreement with the A1 mobile provider in Serbia, while Telekom Kosovo, operating as Vala, has agreements with all operators in the Western Balkans except for Serbia, where it only has an agreement with Yettel. This means that when they are in Serbia, Vala or Ipko users can use their phone only when connected to the network of the one company with which Vala or Ipko have a contract.
Three companies operate in Kosovo — IPKO Communications, Vala (Telekom Kosovo), and MTS DOO, an affiliate of Telekom Srbija that operates in the northern part of Kosovo where the majority of the population are Serbs.
Kosovo’s Regulatory Authority of Electronic and Postal Communications, ARKEP, told BIRN that MTS DOO “has a temporary and limited authorisation to extend the infrastructure issued by ARKEP, based on the Telecommunications Agreement, and offers services only in certain areas where the Serbian community lives, and mainly in the north of the country”.
The Telecommunications Agreement referred to by ARKEP was first signed by Kosovo and Serbia in Brussels in 2013 as part of their EU-mediated dialogue to normalise relations, followed by an action plan on telecommunications that was signed in 2015.
MTS however “has no right to expand/extend the mobile phone network”, ARKEP told BIRN.
Users of Kosovo’s telecommunications operators can use their phones in other Balkan countries in accordance with the roam-like-at-home agreement, in the same way that Serbian users can in Kosovo.
Northern Kosovo is an exception, however. Mobile operators in Kosovo, excluding MTS DOO, have limited coverage in the northern, Serb-majority municipalities, resulting in restricted or completely disabled telecommunications services.
One man from Belgrade, Vuk V., who didn’t want his full name to be made public, said he spent several days in Kosovo last month, travelling from the north to Prizren and Pristina.
“At no point was it possible to use Serbian MTS [the Serbian provider rather than the service for north Kosovo provided by MTS DOO], while Kosovo networks could be used but with a tariff that was not explained anywhere. In some parts of Kosovo, there was no signal for any of the networks,” he said.
MTS DOO did not respond to BIRN’s questions.
Kosovo citizens often face difficulties in the four Serb-majority municipalities in the north of the country due to the limited coverage offered there by Kosovo telecom companies Vala and Ipko. It is often not possible to connect to the MTS DOO network for those who have a mobile phone number from either Vala and Ipko. Because the area is within Kosovo, roaming does not function either.
When a BIRN reporter visited the north of Kosovo, she had to purchase an MTS DOO simcard. However, whenever there are sudden escalations of tensions in the north of Kosovo, it becomes difficult to buy MTS DOO simcards or internet packages.
Vala told BIRN that in the northern municipalities of Mitrovica e Veriut, Zvecan, Leposaviq/Leposavic and Zubin Potok, the Vala (Kosovo Telecom) mobile service does not work due to limited network coverage in these areas.
Vala said that the following coverage is available in northern Kosovo:
Zubin Potok: Most parts of the city, Lake Ujmani and the road to the border crossing point in Bernjak have 3G coverage. The border point in Bernjak has 4G coverage. Internet and IPTV service are available at specific institutions in Bernjak, such as Kosovo Customs, the Post Office and Raiffeisen Bank.
Leposaviq/Leposavic: The border point in Jarinje, a section of the Jarinje- Leposaviq/Leposavic road, and a section of the Mitrovica- Leposaviq/Leposavic road have 3G coverage. However, the town of Leposaviq/Leposavic itself does not have reliable 3G coverage, and 4G technology has not been implemented yet. Cable internet is not available in the municipality.
Zvecan: Zvecan has partial coverage from base stations in Mitrovica, but the city itself does not have satisfactory coverage. There is no cable internet coverage in Zvecan.
Mitrovica: The municipality is mostly covered by new technologies from base stations in South Mitrovica. However, one base station within the municipality only operates with 2G technology. There is partial cable network coverage and fixed services in certain areas and institutions, such as the neighbourhood of Boshnjakeve.
As Vala explained, Kosovo Telecom has an agreement with Serbian companies for international roaming, but this agreement only allows roaming services within Serbia, not within Kosovo.
“Therefore, [users of] Vala numbers can only use mobile phone services via roaming in the territory of Serbia, where their roaming partner has network coverage,” the company said.
ARKEP told BIRN that “mobile operators Kosovo Telecom (Vala) and IPKO have the authorisation from ARKEP to extend the infrastructure and provide services throughout the territory of the Republic of Kosovo, including the northern municipalities”.
In February 2023, ARKEP also gave additional capacities – 800MHz and 3.5GHz frequency bands – to Kosovo Telekom and IPKO.
Vala said that investments are being made by Kosovo Telecom to modernise its network and expand coverage to areas including the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo.
ARKEP said that during the second part of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, “there has been an effort and a joint plan of operators with support from the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, for investments in the northern part, for which several masts and base stations for providing services have been established”.
“Also when it comes to the extension of the mobile phone infrastructure in the northern part of the country, operators also need additional security for their infrastructure, since at various times their telecommunications infrastructure has been deliberately damaged by unscrupulous persons,” ARKEP said.
In 2010, some of IPKO’s infrastructure in the north of Kosovo was damaged. However, IPKO did not respond to BIRN’s questions regarding the current situation in the northern municipalities by the time of publication.
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